Keep stepping
keep pressing
these questions won’t let me
let go of the pressure
the mounts I can’t measure.
I can’t get a foothold
my fingers, they grow cold
as I try to withhold
my personal choke-hold.
Hold—hold on
there’s no ground to stand on
my fingers are slipping
and hope has gone missing.
Abyss below
no rope to hold
the fire is cold
I have to let go.
Down, down
further inside
slowly I drown
away from the climb.
Solid place.
Soft embrace.
I found the ground
at the bottom of the sea
I had to drown
to be set free.
Literally, this poem tells the story of one climbing a mountain. They have run out of footholds and find themselves far from solid ground with a slipping grip. They let go and drown in the sea, ultimately reaching the bottom and finding solid ground—but they were required to drown to find it.
Looking at this poem in a more applicable sense, I believe it is about pressure and insecurity. The narrator is attempting to carry their pressures and insecurities but finds themselves unable to. They are dangling hopelessly over the fear everyone faces in the light of pressure and insecurity: letting go. But, after the narrator falls and begins to drown, they reach solid ground. They found freedom in releasing their burdens, leaving the mountain and drowning in the sea.
I suppose the significant question to raise is this: what is your sea? What body of water can you fall into and drown in? Where can you find both solid ground and a soft embrace?
I believe there are many answers to this question. Some find it in family, others in expression. Knowing The Founder, studying his past work, I have to assume that his “sea” is his faith. Letting go of the struggle and drowning—essentially dying—may bring peace in a new way if one falls into the arms of One that can bear their struggles.
Hope Mixes
—The Translator
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