The Ocean We Forgot

A Founding Poem for Wisenotwar Chevaliers

Of waves stirring upon a sea,
Who whisper, “The ocean belongs to me.”
Rising up with powerful crest up high,
And pushing up loudly to the passing sky.

Another wave nearby declares,
“This stretch of water is our wares.
These depths, these currents, all I see,
Exist for mine and only me.”

And so the waves began to fight,
Morning, afternoon and night.
They crashed and roared and split apart,
With storms of fear in every heart.

One wave flew flags of violet and green,
One claimed the towers, one claimed the scene.
One called another strange or wrong,
And battle became their endless song.

They measured victories and loss.
They counted every wave they’d toss.
Yet none could see, through spray and foam,
The sea itself was always home.

A wise old elder wave, worn smooth by years,
Had watched their struggles, hopes and fears.
It spoke so softly few could hear,
For anger shouts while truth draws near.

It said, “My friends, before you rage,
Pause for but a moment’s stage.
Look beneath your fearful cry.
Tell me where your boundaries lie.

Where does one wave truly end?
Where does another wave begin?
Can you find a separate sea,
Belonging solely unto thee?

You rise together from one deep.
One living ocean, wide and steep.
Though forms may differ, shapes may change,
The source beneath remains the same.”

The leader waves laughed loud and long.
“Elder, surely you are wrong.
Can’t you see we’re not alike?
Look at our size, our strength, our strike.”

The Elder wave smiled.

“Yes, forms appear.
Yet look with a vision bright and clear.
For all your struggles, all your motion,
Not one of you has left the ocean.”

The leader waves returned to war,
As countless waves had done before.
Yet now and then they stopped to hear
A quiet truth arise and clear.

A few began to understand.
A few reached out a helping hand.
A few chose kindness over pride.
A few let wisdom be their guide.

A few became a little more
Than all the generations before
And then a few became a few more.
And then a few became a shore.

And then across the Earth there grew
A different way, a fresher view.
Not weakness. An inside opening of peace.
Seeing more clearly as waves release.

So children learned to calm the mind.
To proactively care for all earth-kind.
To see that every joy and sorrow shared
Led into wiser hearts bared.

New leaders learned that lasting might
Does not arise from hate or fight.
The strongest hearts, when all is said,
Are those by wisdom’s lamp well led.

Scientists and sages met.
Old divisions they’d forget.
Technology and insight found
A common and more noble ground.

The world began to understand
No nation stands on separate land.
Beneath each border, flag and notion,
Every life remains one ocean.

Little by little, year by year,
The dream once distant drew more near.
Not through conquest. Not through fear.
But through a growing atmosphere

Of minds awakening to see
A deeper shared humanity.
And when at last a critical tide
Of hearts stood on the wiser side,

The sea itself began to change
Though nothing really looked that strange.
The weapons had not vanished first.
Not one but many reversed the curse.

The change began where all things start:
Within the chambers of the heart.
The old assumptions lost their power.
Wisdom flowered hour by hour.

And what once seemed impossible before
Became unthinkable: war.
For when enough waves truly see
The ocean in you and the ocean in me,

The tides of history start to bend,
And ancient habits meet their end.
Dear Chevalier, Dear friend,
Dear traveller beneath the sun, heart lend.

Remember this before the day is done:
The light of all the good that is sung
You are more than the fears you defend.
More than the roles on which you depend.

More than the banners under which you stand.
More than the lines drawn in the sand.
Within you lives a depth untold,
A sea more precious far than gold.

The future waits upon the choice
Of every heart, Of every voice.
For what divides will come and go,
Like surface winds that briefly blow.

Yet deeper still, As sages have spoken,
Lives a truth too long forgotten: awaken
We are not waves learning to become an ocean brave.
We are the ocean, Momentarily appearing as waves.

And perhaps the day humanity remembers this well,
Will be the day war finally begins to fade, true victories bell.
And until then, let us cultivate wisdom deep
Let us strengthen compassion beyond sleep.

Let us protect life. Let us serve.
Let us build what future generations deserve.
Let us become the tide.
Wisdom, not war, the victory cried.

One Ocean. One Earth’s Family.
One Shared Future. Let’s build it now with humility.

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