Jim Vick: Listen

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When the changes come, they sometimes follow one another like the waves of the sea, growing in magnitude. I learned about riding those waves of change during a long winter on the beaches of southern Florida some years back. - JV

A THOUSAND WAVES

When the breaker swells and rises,
towering over your head,
The sheer force of its sight meets your eyes and leaves you overwhelmed with dread.
You may try to escape beneath it
And be swallowed by the undertow,
but the only path to safety in the raging sea is the direction of the tidal flow.

You've got to wait for just the right moment
And don't delay for a second more,
Then cast your fate to its mercy
And ride it right into the shore.
But throw out your hand to stop it,
And you get a thousand waves.

Every moment like a whitecap rises
to its pinnacle before its fall,
Til it suddenly breaks and capsizes,
and comes tumbling like a crumbling wall.
When a wave of change comes upon you
with the force of a raging sea,
Heed my words of warning:
You can weather the storm
If you approach it cautiously.

You've got to wait for just the right moment
And don't delay for a second more,
Then cast your fate to its mercy
And ride it right into the shore.
But throw out your hand to stop it,
And you get a thousand waves.

Copyright 1998 Jim Vick