True Balance

Song for the Sea

in the cool dark waters of her dreamy sleep.

In the cool dark waters, holding my breath and diving,

diving into the sinuey florescence of lolling wave and rocking seaweed,

into the deep blue-green churning

that’s become this dancing of love.

and more than once, I’m sure, I stood

I stood at her shores calling back the wave.

More than once, raising my arms high, high

I sang down the rain, thunder-black and mimicking night

as seal heads rose and cormorants called

and pelicans dove into her wild, cacophonous roiling.

down on my knees at the ocean’s edge.

Down on my knees

my hands flowering starfish,

anemone, etched snow-white sand dollar,

delicate jellyfish, all undulating seduction.

Gulping her into me, gulping her in

my mouth wide, wide open

my hair, heaving sea grass,

my eyes, shock of sun-glinted starlight

skimming a shimmer across her moody skin,

fish darting and turning their sacred ballet,

their tiny mouths kissing the sea.

my wisdom-fins finding their way

shocked and steady, in the freezing snow run-off,

in the cascade of waterfall, leaping

battered belly over sharp-edged rock,

and never, never doubting my way

upstream to my birthing waters

returning and returning again

since before god called down

the beginning of time.

or her bride all a-blush in the glow of sunset,

the foam of the wave encircling me in lace,

the sea, all rocking and pulsation,

the tide all rising and falling,

as easy as a gasp in the wind of god’s billowy breath

as the cool dark waters calling me down, down

to embrace the tight-lipped oyster,

entice the wild-armed octopus,

rollick the gentle sea horse,

ride the joyful dolphin,

and nestle into the deep-bellied whale

drumming the ancient heartbeat of her lovely liquid planet.

and calling for a crown

of pearls and shark’s teeth,

lions paw and moon shell

to anoint me

as I shiver the wave

and take my place

in the dance of this vast watery dreaming,

dreaming love back into her wild passionate body.

Johanna Courtleigh is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Certified Hypnotherapist and Confidence Coach in private practice in Lake Oswego, Oregon, just south of Portland.  She is also a Certified HypnoFertility® Therapist and Birth by Hypnosis® Facilitator, assisting women who’ve been unable to conceive or carry a pregnancy to term reach their goal of becoming pregnant and bringing beautiful, healthy babies into the world, peacefully.  She has been a Certified Hypnotherapist since 1988, a Licensed Counselor in full-time private practice since 1991, and in the helping professions for over twenty-five years.