Tidal Ice

The ice is cracked and crazed
Though it seems a solid piece.
As the river sank and raised
It when the tide was high or low,
The ice followed the water,
Shaping, reshaping its sheet across
The river, bay and land.

Unlike the smooth ice of placid
Ponds and lakes that keep a steady level,
Tidal ice must reshape itself
Constantly as the supporting water
Flows and shifts beneath it.

So is tidal ice like the surface of
The mind shaped by trauma.
Beneath the surface that seems
A solid piece, the level shifts
And moves in tides. The cracks
And crazes in the surface
Allow the surface to spread
Like a smooth sheet across
The changing levels, whether
High tide, or low, covering
Rocks or water, or sandy shore
Beneath a smooth seeming sheet of ice.

Feb. 4, 2008
Betsy McKenzie