The tidal surge consumed
the beach.

The mentor watched
then walked
along

his jarring calmness no relief
for students fraught
with fearful
grief.

"How dare you stare so peacefully?"
they asked him
in their
agony.

"Because the sea must rise today,
and nothing stands within the Way,
though one would always
have that choice,"
he whispered in
his humbled
voice.