Brotherhood
~
My heart sails out to you, brother
I know how it feels to crumble
Like a sandcastle in the rising of the sea
Doesn’t matter how beautifully you build it,
Tide waits for no man
And no woman waits for me.
~
I feel your fear and soft fury from afar,
Turned inward on yourself,
When it could be out at me
Who crossed invisible lines
Danced undefined, in liminal spaces
Fingers accidentally opened cracks
In crumbling masonary
~
I surf the waves that break on you
An endless fall in a sea of love
This self same tide opens us wide
To below, or to above?
Where can a compass point you,
When tumbled in a swell?
And in the ancient forest
Fresh growth needs trees be fell
~
I grieve with you unknown, unseen
Perhaps a cause of your unbeing
I’ve been there, and still reeling
Still slowly healing and wholing
From part of my heart, my identity stolen
Only hope you have more than I had left
When love’s riptide left me bereft.
~
In another time I could have been
A brother to you – no wall between.
My focus honed a wild love potion
For our golden wahine’s devotion
Would that we’d both cherished her
Teamworking all our lives the richer
But the tide comes in and wipes us clean
What comes next will be, will be, and unforeseen.
~
Joe Blogs, June 2022
Image by Benjamin Nelan