Indiana extremes, ten degrees

Yesterday morning,

A high of forty-five today,

Under a winter storm

Advisory tonight, but life

Is this way too, parallel

Extremes, my moods

And feelings carbon

Copies of the weather

Outdoors, I wear different

Faces for each or the same

Face for all, but my underlying

Currents are ever changing.

Sometimes, I laugh with the

Inner warmth of an unexpected

Psychological Indian summer,

Caught unawares by a low

Pressure system of stress-free

Days, when clouds suddenly

Break and the eye of the storm

That spun within dissipates

Above the rolling waves of

Emotional turmoil in which

I floundered, and I find myself

Drifting along on a sea of quiet

Reflections, patiently awaiting rescue.

But distant shores are not often seen

In light of what has just come to pass,

And after a time inner horizons will

Darken once more, causing me to

Struggle against uncertain tides as

I seek solid ground, mood turning

Cold behind watchful eyes, beacons

Of distress that know not which way

To swing as they search in vain for

A solid foothold, a ledge to grab onto

In an unknown latitude of my human

Soul, the compass of who I am soaked,

Battered, unreliable beneath parallel extremes.

END

“Parallel Extremes”