We so often assume

that we have been forsaken

or that we are wrong

or out of alignment

or being punished

simply because

the tide has gone out. 

 

… But the ocean could never abandon the shore.

It just doesn’t work that way.

 

I’m starting to notice

that when the divine

pulls the tide out

she braids the shoreline

with little rivers 

as if she were playing with my hair

and telling me bedtime stories.

 

As she flirtatiously retreats 

she uncovers the living sculpture

of my terrain—

the rocks and ridges 

fissures and faults

of my personality

my emotions

my beliefs

my body

my perceptions

my compulsions...

 

She puts love notes

in the wind for me

expressing how she  

delights in every form 

our relationship takes—

both in its closeness

and in stepping back 

to see her creation

exposed in its entirety.

 

I feel her gaze 

in awe and adoration 

upon every part of me.

 

So when the water recedes 

and illusions of separation set in

know that you are being 

both carved and cherished.

 

Give yourself over to

her ebb and flow

for her “absence”

can’t exist

for more than a moment

as she moves heaven and earth

gravity and oceans

just to swoop back in

kissing your feet 

to your forehead

laughing

as she fills you completely 

all over again.