Faced with a riptide
or a vortex
Be calm —
There’s less to gain by thrashing
than by tuning in
and waiting for your moment

It’s OK
if you go down a little more
before you surface

There will be something you can use —
An eddy, or a bottom to spring up from
Or a gravitas within,
more weighty than
the surge can heave,
to separate you from the fray,
release you from its inundating force,
let you reclaim your footing
and your course.

©Wendy Mulhern
December 23, 2014