My life exists amidst these waves,

laughter and tears swing in time to their rhythm,

Undulations passing in relentless cadence

Pursuing their endless journey beyond the horizon.

 

I’m left to rise and fall, as crest follows trough.

Sadness, dense and impenetrable, is once again spreading

Each time I hope to be the last, yet wishful thinking won’t make it so

Each arrival leaving me blind to all the joy that came before.

 

I long for the first rays of morning and the return of the light

But dawns arrival, reveals sadness stretching beyond my sight.

Preserving my remaining happiness depends on forward motion

Like a flat stone skipping across calm waters.

 

To stop, is to dive headlong into a vast despondent sea.

Yet this eventual plunge seems inevitable, unstoppable.

Intervals between each touchdown have grown briefer,

The rise from each momentary graze becoming shallower.

 

Whether I settle gradually as momentum fails.

Or crash abruptly on the face of a windblown wave, the result is the same

I’m submerged once again, shrouded in silence, cloaked in darkness.

Struggling again to regain the surface, to divine heavens direction

 

At last it appears that I am lost, and exhaustion has taken me body and soul

When fighting further seems pointless, the peace beyond calls to me.

At the moment when acceptance of finality has replaced fear

The surface parts and I stare again into the blue of a cloudless sky above

 

Sun shines down upon my face, my lungs fill with unexpected reassurance

A raging sea only moments ago, now lies tranquil and calm

Buoyed by the unexpected passage of the storm,

I float placidly as my strength returns, as my hopes are renewed.

 

Once more, from the light into the darkness and back again into the light

Once more the cycle has been completed.

Once more I turn and begin the steady passage back to shore.

Once more I wonder how long the light will last.