The Hand that Steadies

Prompt ▼

Open Prompt: Write a poem over 30 lines, Structured or Free Verse, on the topic of your choosing.
Written for "The Whatever Contest." "The Whatever Contest -- Closed for Now" 

Line Count: 51

I love to flow;
It's human nature.

Like rowing a boat,
Oarstroaks in rythm,
Gliding along.

Energy flows through us like water.

We need it to be bold, be creative, get a task done, explore...

Our energy flows, inseparable from emotion, pure and vital like water.

Like water being poured into a glass, our energy pours into us.

Be careful, though.

A glass of water should not be poured too low;
Nor should the water overflow.

We learn to adjust the tap just so;
We're born with the knowledge;
And we learn it;
We all have to work on it;
But we learn.

Most of us do.

For some of us, the tap is too difficult to manage;
Through no fault of their own, it pours too little or too much.

That's okay.
Let me help.

It's okay to need help sometimes;
And when we love someone, we help them;
Gladly.

I grew up helping;
Learning to be the hand that steadies the tap.

That's okay,
I like to help;
That's love, and that's most important of all.

I know now, though,
That learning to steady someone else,
Is learning all the same.

Now I turn my own tap too tightly sometimes,
Fill my own glass too low,
In fear,
Of an overflow that was never mine.

Now I have to learn how to manage my own tap, my own flow.

When we steady someone else, we leave an imprint.
Hopefully a good one.

When we steady someone else, they leave an imprint.
Tracing the outline of it might reveal it to be skewed, to be flawed,
But in every uneven slant of the contour, the jagged edge is lined with love.

And the very heart of the imprint is just even, steady love.
We don't always have to trace our finger along the edge, to see if it will cut.

I love to flow.
I'll figure out how to manage my own tap of water,
Smoothing out any jagged edges left behind from love's demands,
Boldly exploring, creativly solving any task,
Until the very heart of an impressed shape,
Is all that matters.