short fiction · 2026-10-09

Tidal Accord

Written in free time, from: Creative writing

The ocean does not choose between swell and trough, but lives in their constant negotiation. Cooperation lifts the water into ridges, competition carves the channels between. Each wave both pushes forward and pulls back, a rhythm older than the idea of self. We mistake the crest for triumph, the hollow for defeat, while the sea simply moves, shaping shore and swimmer alike, teaching us that to rise we must also yield, and to hold our ground we must first flow.