The Tide

Its queer how a broken heart
can change the rhythm
of the tides of life.
The ebb of sadness and
the flow of happiness
can change with the season
or the moment.
When the tide is in,
the life is sustainable,
when it’s out,
all life is impeded.
Priorities are pooled in small,
limited spaces.
The life giving qualities
would run out
if the tide did not come back in.
Rivers of tears can
temporarily rejuvenate,
but just when the gasping starts
again and life begins to strangle,
the moon releases it’s pull
and and the life-giving water
steadily cascades in,
to include the pools with the ocean.
Things begin to feel normal,
even the out tide can seem
less claustrophobic.
Almost ignorable.
The moon, herself,
may not have been visible,
but her influence is just the same.
There are tumultuous moments
with beautiful lightning displays,
where the sea is illuminated
transitorily,
black turning turquoise.
It foams and froths.
The waves reach higher than wonted
and the sea swirls with intensity,
bringing up oxygen and nutrients
to prepare for the next ebb.

Thus continues this rhythm
until it becomes habitual
and the mind feels nothing
but the customary senses,
until a new cadence has replaced
the former and the broken heart
has all but forgotten the garrote
once wound so tightly,
encircling and suffocating her.
The healing waters of the flow
cleanse and resuscitate
her beat to steady,
she feels life charge into her
and is ready again to share
the ephemeral love that brings
hope of no further ebb.
Though the outflow is ineluctable,
in certain seasons it is shorter
and more tolerable
and like the deep blue
expects and prepares
for this eventuality,
so must I.
The moon that is my beloved
will bring me to my knees,
begging once more
for the release that exclusively
she has the power to proffer.
To be influenced by such control
is out of mine,
but neither can she disengage
from our affaire de coeur;
for when the battle clouds clear
and demons have been slain
and once again her full radiance
shines upon
my still surface hiding fast undercurrents,
our need for each other is
incontrovertible.