lesson one

if you can't shake
the shark that's on your tail
jump on its back
and hold on for dear life
don't let go until it's safe
to sidle off and hide
under a rock that looks
a lot like you

lesson two

When you're safe
in shallow water
away from predators
and there's a school
of gaudy fish
clustering around you
throw up your arms
and swim with them
fling your body
up and down
delight in weightlessness
it's time to play

lesson three

At the end of the adventure
the sharks finally outwitted
and you've done all
you know to do
to further what's most precious
which is your offspring
then it's natural to let it go
nothing to fear as gently you rejoin
the elemental ocean

lesson four

to be smart
like an octopus
you must give up
your shell
take your chances
out in the free-swimming
world while learning on the go
no moment to waste
it goes by like a flash
the little sharks come for you
eager and fast
but It helps if you know
how to sideshift
wrap yourself in kelp
how to change colors
to look like the rocks
you hide under and
best to keep eyes open wide
let go of losses
with time even limbs can regrow

lesson five

How to reconnect with that wild child
the magic child you left behind
mostly forgottenas you moved
into your life

How to rejoin the part of you
that knows it's place
your place within the planet's skein
where all of life's enmeshed
where all are dancing
to the selfsame tune

It's a journey of return with many doors
one is the living ocean
here's a man who diving in the kelp
entered a world that for a year or two
became his own
world of an octopus
who once she knew
he posed no threat
reached out
wrapping her arm around his hand
and for a precious moment
lay across his chest

He followed her to her life's end
she brought him back to where
he felt alive again
part of the living whole
our only wholeness