Balancing Act
(after Balance Rock, Bar Harbor, Maine)
Away from the shore,
raised on edge,
one rock balances
upon another.
Tides sweep over it;
storms batter it;
yet it remains, poised,
in mid-stance steady,
unmoving, like a tai chi masteron one leg,
lost in contemplation before striking.
We wonder what magic
keeps the rock in its place.
We are awed,
knowing that under a mere drizzle of words
we can weaken and list,
sometimes, far from our core.
The sight of the rock
resting on its edge,
weathering the weather,leads us to speculate:
Where is the center?
Is the fulcrum upon which we rest
solid? How shall we set our weight
in just the right proportion –
not too far to the right,
nor too much to the left?
What is the sweet spot,
so, we, like a rock on edge in the ocean,
can stand fast, never tipping
as the waves of these times wash over us?
- Wilderness House Literary Review, Vol. 15, No. 4, 2021.