Walking on Water
Wouldn’t we all love to stay above turmoil and have nothing touch us? Walk on water.
It feels like a hint of the miraculous. Years ago, the following poem came to me about this.
For years I’ve been walking on water
Cleverly wandering here and there
Braving the somewhat sterile storms
And ignoring advice from the shore.
But now, a shift, and the east wind blows
Raising the wild fresh scent of the sea
Gulls ring out a longing cry
And the tide swell lifts beneath me,
The ice is cracking, and cracking
It’s breaking away at the rim
For walking on water is a winter sport
And Love now bids me swim.
For lots of us, it is easier to walk on water than to swim the deep seas of emotion. For me, staying in my head, in thoughts and disconnection was like walking on water. It felt like it kept me out of the dangerous realm of emotion and let me do lots of things.
Do you get lost in rumination, in thoughts, planning or in self criticism? Thoughts can be a way of staying away from feelings and I have been there. Through most of my life I’ve lived in a world of thought. I loved ideas, and reading from being a child, and in a large and boisterous family, I could shut out everyone and everything and lose myself in a book. I wrote this poem at a time when I was facing my emotions. Since I’m not much of a swimmer the image at the end was not appealing. It’s still a process, allowing the layers of thought between me and Love to dissolve and release.
Love now bids me swim.