Poem

I love this poem. It's taken from the book, "Leading from Within: Poetry that sustains the courage to lead."

The Trough

by Judy Brown

There is a trough in waves,

a low spot

where horizon disappears

and only sky

and water

are our company.

And there we lose our way

unless

we rest, knowing the wave will bring us

to its crest again.

There we may drown

if we let fear

hold us in its grip and shake us

side to side,

and leave us flailing, torn, disoriented.

But if we rest there

in the trough,

in silence,

being in the low part of the wave,

keeping our energy and

noticing the shape of things,

the flow,

then time alone

will bring us to another

place

where we can see

horizon, see land again,

regain our sense

of where

we are,

and where we need to swim.