When stormy waves wash high about my boat
The breakers roar and peaceful channels flee
When hope departs but for the lowest note
He makes for me paths in the sea
When storm clouds rise with darkness all around
The sun is hid — the course I cannot see
Though faintest rays of help cannot be found
He make for me paths in the sea
Fine spider web cracks
Bending without breaking
Rough diamond chips
Standing without shaking
Fully broken pieces
Glued to even stronger
Worn and weathered edges
Lasting even longer
Healing and forgiveness
Held between each line
Promise, love, connection
These imperfections fine
Dark river beds so far below
Rushing with torrents full of rain
So many muddy memories held
Entangled joy, sadness, and pain
They saturate the ground below
And always upward ebb and flow
To bring forgotten back to life
What so long dormant there has lain
Through crevices in life’s hard rock
Waters of the past permeate
Changing brick to quicksand mud
Unstable, sudden falls create
They turn the world upside down
To wash away or even drown
Before the present rights itself
And thoughts and feelings can abate
So much to lose – so much to gain
From the past’s watermarked stain
Though hard, it never is too late
To learn from memories that await
I never had patience for puzzles
Hunting and searching for every piece
Thinking I knew what the image was
It’s all wrong – my frustrations increase
Finally getting the picture together
It’s not at all what I thought it would be
The good pieces I had discovered
Are hidden and changed by reality
I’ve spread out the pieces still trying
To fix it but just made a mess
This image has crumbled around me
My misinterpretations now I confess
Turns out this is not my puzzle
And it’s time now to walk away
It wasn’t a waste – it was worth it
For now I am wiser today
Change moves like the rolling tide
Slow but unstoppable force
Pushing in or out to sea
Inexorably from the source
Moment’s glance can never tell
What direction is its course
Brilliant sky and blazing sun
Paint the ocean aqua green
Tempest winds and tall dark clouds
Turn it to a stormy scene
Sunset’s glowing reds and golds
Calm the waves by evening
Each molecule only turns
Within the wave round and round
But great ships are miles moved
Out to sea or run aground
Such subtle shifts with such great change
Nowhere else on earth are found
