The water that separates from the sea,
someday you will be together again

The tide is out for now and you are on your own,
to feel the sun’s breath through your hair
or the cold kiss of winter in your veins.
To reflect back the evening starlight
and paint within yourself
a universe of your own

The tide is out for now
and you are separate from the sea
but someday,
it will rush back in to greet you

It will fold over you like an old friend,
all your memories
all your stars
sinking into its depths,
and when it pulls back again
there will be no way to tell
where you end,
and the ocean begins

New tidepools will bloom
to feel the turning of our Earth, and its moon,
Over and over again

And we are not asked to agree
that it will be easy,
but we are asked to be grateful
for the tug of each moment on our hearts.
To make the most of the time we’ve been given
and to choose, relentlessly, to live

And be unafraid when it ends