147: Describing Call

Isn't it amazing how grief and joy can braid

themselves together?

Like water in tide pools at the beach,

the water keeps coming

and the sand keeps soaking it up;

my grief overflows

and still there is joy

and still I am standing.

So when you ask me why I am leaving,

why I choose this grief-braided joy,

I'll try to give a good answer,

but the words will fail me

because grief and joy,

in addition to

flooding and filling you,

also make it hard to speak.

But here it goes-

sometimes you are swimming

where the water is clear

and the stars are familiar

and home is lovely

when call picks you up

like a tidal wave

and carries you out to sea

and deep water wasn't ever your plan,

but you have to go where the tide takes you

or you'll sink,

so you go where the tide takes you

and like Jonah in the whale

you are spit up somewhere new

and beautiful

and it may just take your breath away

and it may feel like home

and that may surprise you

but all the same

your bones will ache

for the land you once knew

and from time to time you might get homesick

but the water led you here

so you build a shelter

and learn to love the stars in this sky

and when you pray,

you say the names of the ones here

and the ones far away

and the stars shine brighter

and still you are standing

and water keeps filling the

wading pools.