Riptide

Twice the sea

Accosted me,

Its roar and roll

A memory

Of heaving wave

And cobalt grave

Exacting its toll

And none to save.

A fierce rip-tide

That tossed aside

The self's control,

A nightmare ride

Where breakers threw

Foam and spew

To swallow whole

The life I knew.

A fearsome flow,

A force below

A gaping hole

Through which I'd go,

And twice the feel

Of arms like steel

Thwarting the goal

Of Neptune's zeal.

I breathed in pain

But safe again,

Though God extol

Cannot explain

How all-wise Grace

Selects a place

To save one soul

Or annul a race.