20 December 2020

By Philip Kuepper

The sea redeems us.
The soft, silvery scalloping
of the waves moves us
as we stand anchored on static
earth, my body
a boat I row out
on waters I never know
what to expect from.

I favor safe
harbors.  I favor
anchorage I can depend on.
Yet to be out
on the water is an acceptance
of risks, taken,
risks rowed through
to the far side of.

We measure what it is we are
capable of.  We describe
our lives by such.  We row
the boats of our bodies.
Life, with which we are
born, is redemption.
We learn to flow
as the sea.

(7 November 2020)