Poem: Backlash

Backlash

The backlash of poor choices
Will hit you like an oncoming wave;
It is built in to our ecosystem
The tides of cause and effect,
Low down to high up,
Repeat the karma.
Breath in;
Breath out
And continue an involuntary reflex.
You can pace it,
But you cannot stop it,
Unless you choose to die.
We, in the majority,
Choose to live and continue.
We turn the other cheek
As we curl up into the eye of the wave.
Then we are spit up onto the shoreline
Still intact, though gasping for air
With rough sand in our mouths.
The wave woke us up
By pulling us into close proximity to death.
We rise shaken, our vision blurry,
Clearing as we wipe away the salty water
To see the world in a different way.
Still there is the appearance of solid ground
Beneath the weight of our bodies,
But the sky is wider,
The air softer,
And the sounds sharper.