I didn’t always fear the waters deep
It’s not a fear we’re born with
I cling, faithless, to the gunwhale
As oceanic potential
Quietly drowns inside me.
T’was preemptive, defensive,
I bottled my ocean into a jar
Buried it under sand, forgot to draw a map
Can’t move me again, no pain.
But the hidden message shouts back:
Don’t let me be a creature of the shore
Any more, scrabbling in the shallows
For scraps, sea froth and salt licking wounds
A shallow surfer, exuberance
Trapped between longing and land.
Uncork me, let me feel the raging waves
Ripped apart by tides, out of hand
Let my soft tears blur the line ‘twix pain and joy
Add to the shimmering beauty
Of all the tears that have ever been shed.
~~~
Joe Blogs, Apr ’22
Image by Geir Fløde via Pixabay