Like the tide, there are times I recede. Into the ocean. Into myself. It is there that I nourish. It is there that I am temperate. In the stillness, far from any shore, I stare at the shimmering horizons and I float. The sky darkens to a murky blue and I wrap myself in the night. It is here, where I am alone, that I find my polarity. In this isolation I allow myself to feel what I often deny. Be it sadness. Be it fear. Be it anger. Be it bliss. It is here that I reckon with the parts of me that bring conflict. So I float. Until the hues of blue around me lighten. Until I hear the seabirds song. Until the dawn reveals a familiar coast. Because like the tide, I always return. And as such, I am never the same.