Poem October 26, 1981 Issue

Perfect balance

ELIZABETH BEAM

Wanting to skate through life,
I took to my blades.
I found my center
Balancing around me easy-slide assurance
With intermittent sleek strokes.
Round and round, alone,
Me and my shadow and skates,
When out-of-nowhere small boy
By chance, darting too close, disturbed equipoise.
It brought no fall, only quiet smiles,
And he was off, leaving me to ask,
"Are we our brothers' balance-keeper?"
From this babelike event,
My focus changed.
Already a lesson learned, ripening,
As vision converged toward God, Life, as center.

This center impels stability for all,
Keeping each tall, even in the deranged shade
Of mortal crash.
Life—our Life, shared—shows us
Beyond-a-doubt grace,
All cursory slickness gone.
Expressed among us,
God-centered action
Creates illuminated fearless moves,
Slips past the shadow of many centers,
And reconciles the day.

ELIZABETH BEAM

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