"North Star" by Kate King

She finds herself sailing in the nighttime waters

unsure about the horizon, and without a north star.

She must be the north star—embody it

for it was never promised that the rising sun would shine again

it was only assumed.

A closer look toward the frosted reflection of a face in the current is so still – so certain

until punctured by the motion of another form.

Then, like dancing nymphs of clouded dreams

the solidity of form disperses

to be adopted into the vastness again.

Doors and windows swing open and closed.

Opportunities introduced and retracted as the steady clock ticks

marking the aging moment.

The future becomes the present, and is fleetingly renamed as the past.

Too late.

What once was will never again be

and how to start anew without old names stands as a quest toward danger.

The oldest patterns lie like deep-set wrinkles

posing as reminders and promises, all together yearning to be repeated.

When the horizon is lost the directions become twin-like

removing clarity and flirting

as the ship sways and swings in its search for steadiness.

Amazingly the center shifts

as though taking its pendulum form and grasping

for tethered points that were designed for such a moment.

Realization strikes like fire on skin

while the choice is finally made in all its catastrophe.

Heads turn away as the beauty introduces herself.

They do not wish to see the creature

born from the ashes of old habits.

They cannot navigate what they do not know.

She must source her own wisdom from gifts before learned

and she must be still enough to listen.

A beating source more loud than before beckons.

The code is difficult but not impossible.

She realizes that this life is tiresome and fierce

and lovely.

She knows, but only needs to hear herself

above the screaming chorus that beckons her distance from her truth.

Steadiness appears like an old friend

inviting clouds of uncertainty to pass.

The end looks like the beginning, with its hope-drizzled veil

and she realizes that she knows the only possible answer:

to exhale and confidently step into the beautiful unknown.