This new place – 
as bright as the sun shining 
in the clear blue skies 
of the sea 
after tumultuous storms. 
I am struck by the clarity – 
running through me 
in a rush 
even as I stand so still. 
It is a lot – this clarity – 
and also, it is a blank slate –  
like the day I was born to this world, 
but more intense. 
I wonder if I should stay. 

*With thanks to Henri Nouwen, for his journal entry, “Enter the New Country” (The Inner Voice of Love, pp. 21-22)