the truer test

The storm

tries us; but that

belies our

deeper need, some

greater laws. The welcome

of wave by shore is

ungentle- but how much less

is each without the other. Better

to collide than reign

denied of cause.

It should be the storm

that tests us; the tempest

that bests us; the

riot of detritus, rage of

waves that tyrannize with

lavish indifference to

each; extravagant

Entropy over all.

Waves and swells

Chaos and debris

maelstrom and mayhem:

The customary squall.

How odd such things

should drift and

shift and float to fill the space

of separation and thus

connivingly unite us.

There is always something

to grab in Pandemonium.

Buoyancy, perhaps

in bedlam; and maybe some

in madness and the scramble

for a space; a tether in

the clash of disparate urgencies.

The storm abates, as

all storms do.

All bleeding

ends, too; all laughter stops; all

Dreamers stir; all sleepers

wake.

To learn of

tests improbable but

true, others far more

likely and yet fake:

Alone to find

it over. Stillness on a

pristine beach. The quiet

trying. The rest, restless.

Another test.

Something softly hostile

In the calm; somehow cold, despite

the warm.

We bear the anguish of this

savage calm- tip with want

of will at the horizon, beseech

this strange inclination across

the troughs, at the sea: again!

Bring on the next storm.

-fin

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP has had 5 kids and 4 dogs enthusiastically trashing his home for the holidays, and the chaos is killing him. But saying goodbye is so much harder...

Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center; Griffin Hospital
President, American College of Lifestyle Medicine
Editor-in-Chief, Childhood Obesity

Follow at: LinkedIN; Twitter; Facebook
Read at: INfluencer Blog; Huffington Post; US News & World Report; About.com
Author: Disease Proof