Despite Life’s Storms…Committed #poetry #haibun

forest path

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One day from Japan to Guam, a P-3 crew of 12 flew into a tempest. In the face of death, some grasped for metal others crumpled straws; I held to confidence in my God. For hours we were tossed like a mere play thing; it seemed impossible that a craft could hold together against such force. As the storm lifted and just above the ocean we drifted, we beheld the most glorious image. All of nature awakened beneath a glorious, golden halo: Whales blew plumes of water, dolphins played on the surface, flying fish pirouetted in a dance with the waves.

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eye of the storm

man clings to any hope

nature’s beauty emerges

I can’t paraphrase what the journey committed to God is like. For each pilgrim it is different. But this one thing I can say – no matter the sorrow, no matter the pain when the storm has passed there’s a beauty unclaimed.

The prompt at Poet’s United is “Committed.” What are you committed to no matter the cost?

“A Glimpse to the other side” is a more complete “story” that I wrote several years ago logging this day.