trough by judy brown

There is a trough in waves,

A low spot

Where horizon disappears

And only sky

And water

Are our company.

And there we lose our way

Unless

We rest, knowing the wave will bring us

To its crest again.

There we may drown

If we let fear

Hold us within its grip and shake us

Side to side,

And leave us flailing, torn, disoriented.

But if we rest there

In the trough,

Are silent,

Being with

The low part of the wave,

Keeping

Our energy and

Noticing the shape of things,

The flow,

Then time alone

Will bring us to another

Place

Where we can see

Horizon, see the land again,

Regain our sense

Of where

We are,

And where we need to swim.

‍(C) Judy Brown, A Leader’s Guide to Reflective Practice

• What would you have to surrender to rest in the “low part of the wave”? Explore in your journal.

• Have you ever been in a stormy sea with high waves. Write about your experience. Did you listen and tend to the shape of the water, or did you fight and flail?

• Begin a poem with the words, Only sky and water are my company… Let it flow wherever it wants to go.

Photo by Matt Paul Catalano