Wind and Tide

Dear Maria,

Today brought one of those nearly perfect afternoons when the breeze calls to mind—my mind, at least—sailing across our local harbor. By chance, yesterday I happened to post a piece of poetic shorthand that I called “Wind and Tide”, an imperfect metaphor to be sure for our daily experience. But, the lines came to me as a way to consider the forward press of living a life.

So many of us do in our own fashion push off into the day which will have forces so variable as to surprise us—happily or not so happily—and so we must adjust to an ever shifting reality. Of course, much of the day may be as predictable as the tides which are charted out for us if not exactly, at least with much precision. The confluence of what we expect lies before us and what actually befalls keeps life interesting. To say the least.

And is there ever a better moment than we are in accord with the world around us, so harmonious that there seems almost a hum in the air. Sailing brings such a moment when the wind and the boat and the waves are balanced so that the hand on the tiller may relax and even let go as the boat moves forward as if on a rail rather than the rise and fall of the water’s surface that bears it weight. Gloriously, all aright in time and space.

Sooner than desired more often there comes a gust, a change in pressure or a change in direction or both, and reflexively the body tightens and the hand grasps more firmly the tiller to bring the boat back to alignment with the direction ahead.

Be not disquieted, I wrote. Such is the ride that comes when pushing off from the dock. Old Ulysses understood the need to push off. We do not live by standing still, but in our stepping aboard we must understand we are but one pair of hands on a very small boat in a very big ocean.

In a nice bit of connectedness, a friend this morning asked whether I was sailing again. I am not, yet.

Trust the sky to be fair, the wind favorable, and the sea ahead no tempest brewing, but keep your wits about you.

As of now, I am still, srk