Floating

Floating flowers remind me here

How Back stroke was my favorite stroke

On childhood swim team

as I could breathe on my own timing

and take in the sky

Even though I was expected make haste

To win the race,

to beat my previous time

On my back with ears submerged

I could hear the quiet of slow calling me

Opening my belly to sun

Arching my spine

Widening my chest

All to make room for more air,

more buoyancy, only then

I could own my float—

to feel both held by the water in grace

Surrendering to the whim of its embrace

And free to move with confidence

as if I belonged to the Water’s power of confluence

Observing the sky

with full breath inhaling,

exhaling into the wind

Over rumbling, bubbling blind underwater

Oh how courageous to own your float

Oh how humbling

An ease of exchange in the belonging

A power of buoyancy in the longing

Floating flowers remind me here

How my daughters brief life

has changed my buoyancy

How the gift of grief has changed me

From drowning to bobbing

to owning my float—

The Ultimate Surrendering

Soft belly to sky,

Open hearted to sun

Deep breaths inhaled with wonder

Long exhalations released with peace

How I belong to the ocean of love

Not the waves that crest, crash,

sweeping through me

How I am only here for LOVE