Are you moving forward or backward

Image taken by the author

The log rolls in the waves
Without any will of its own
It rolls forward with the waves
And it rolls back again
It rolls forward again with the next wave
It rolls back again as the wave recedes
Chips break off the log
The log keeps getting thinner
Even if not to the naked eye
What is the log thinking, I wonder
That it tries to move forward
But the waves push it back
It keeps trying to move forward
A bigger wave washes it back
Losing layer after layer
The log probably wonders
What did it do to deserve this
Until it’s stripped of all its bark
It realises only then
That the waves were pushing it forward
And only the log was pulling itself backward.