Tuesday, June 2nd, 2009...10:05 pm
Post-Mount-Carmel Nosedive
(This week’s Random Act of Poetry, in participation of the “What I Learned from a Mountaintop Experience” groupwrite project.)
Though mountaintop is solid earth,
It is to me
Like the sea
Where ocean vastness begins
To meet the land,
The up-slope to the sand,
The birthing place of waves
Ramping up, unreined.
Ocean voice speaks,
Carries,
Peaks,
And I swim as I ride.
Adrenaline arm-strokes, racing leg-kicks
Pumping,
Racing,
Riding
Up to wave’s crest. Racing heart
Pumping,
Riding,
Rising
Up to wave’s crest—the mountaintop
Where breath comes fast and heart
Races.
But a wave always, always
Breaks
And after the crest must come
The trough; the wave is so
Defined.
The pattern repeats, so I am not taken
By surprise when trailing on mountaintop’s heels
Comes Post-Mount-Carmel Nosedive, by now so familiar
I recognize and expect
Its coming.
So I learn to surf, to ride the wave.
Instructor teaches when to plant feet
Soon enough and stand steady—
Balanced and controlled stance on incoming wave.
The wave must break;
The wave must crash,
But I
Do not. I ride
In to rest—
Until
the next
crest.
...to Know-Love-Obey God
9 Comments
June 2nd, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Very nice, Monica. I’m still struggling with learning to appreciate poetry in all its forms, but even a cad such as I can grasp the motion of the waves here, and they’re lesson for life – I think!
I especially like that last part, so reminiscent of Paul’s admonition: “… having done all, to stand…”
Tip o’ the hat for joining us for WILF this month!
June 3rd, 2009 at 8:49 pm
“But a wave always, always
Breaks…”
So true.
June 4th, 2009 at 11:07 pm
“The trough. The wave is so
Defined.” ….
“So I learn to surf…”
Profoundly insightful metaphor. From endurance to exhilaration. The goal is not the mountaintop but the ride.
June 5th, 2009 at 9:43 pm
wow.. i feel this often, so amazingly put!
June 6th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
Thank you for including me in this ride – after experiencing the demand to achieve it, i too need to ride in for a rest!
June 6th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
GOOD ONE
June 8th, 2009 at 9:10 pm
What a wonderful analogy and poem! How great to experience the exhilaration of the climb in a steady rhythm…endlessness: endless power, endless challenge, endless adaptation.
June 9th, 2009 at 10:59 pm
such a beautiful analogy, Monica!
Do you really surf? I think one would learn many life lessons in the process of learning such a skill. Many such experiences where I suffer the “wipe out” grow me in ways I would otherwise never.
smiling,
laura
June 10th, 2009 at 1:03 am
Oooo. Nice stuff. I like your take on this groupwrite project. Well done.
Leave a Reply