The west wind and whitecaps churn
on my long-fetched Midwest lake.
I relish the violence and yearn,
as I have from my youth, to take

a naked dive,
to absorb nature’s dual power;
to be alive
in the storm’s most blustery hour.

I’ll swim and be swept, alone,
unashamed, unabashed, through the foam
of the surging, pounding freshwater sea;
and will learn, again, how it lifts and carries me.

I know when, at last, I emerge, from its power cleansed,
I’ll breathe deep in my soul and feel fully alive again.