Before the Before

You ask, what came before?
Before time, before stars, before this breath.
But tell me—
When a wave rises, do you ask the ocean,
“Where were you before you moved?”

You seek a beginning because the heart trembles at infinity.
You want a door to knock on,
A voice to answer,
“Yes, beloved, I chose you.”

But what if there is no first step,
No cradle for creation,
Only a dance that never began,
A song without a first note?

Why do you long for the ‘before’?
Because stories comfort us.
Because we want to know
That somewhere, someone thought of us
And whispered, “Be.”

Perhaps there was no ‘before,’
Perhaps there is only Now—
And the Now is endless,
And you are not outside it.
You are the ocean,
The wave,
The question,
And the answer.