treasures of the Deep

the tense insinuations of a bristling Shame quiet Us

with Composure; We

ache in bone if not in Spirit – Waves purple

turquoise and red

wash over us with King David’s guilt bloodline

to Jesus through Solomon we

wait by the Sea here counting our Blessings, our

sand-dollars

almost worth the Price we Subsume

our Calcified longing

into our Everyday hacking and sawing

this being

what we Wished for, Careful, in

your Sight, it

has come True, the Sea surges

upward and out

waylaid and beaten in your grasp this

sullen Girl

with the long braids and absentminded gaze

surrenders to you

her parted

lips a beckoning Tide here to drown you here

to thrust

your being into her there where the algae blooms

and the crawfish scuttle you

drum rhythms on the nape of her neck, her

back straining

under percussive

hands we see ourselves now

in the mirror, the glass, the lake where

Narcissus drowned our hopes grown hoary with Age; What

of this Embrace

that rattles our Spine, pulls us close as we align our hips

and brush past each other

like fireflies in an Amber mist the thought that

sinks ships a poet’s Suicide?

– Why then do we

keep time at all when we are luckless but

plunged into each other’s hearts

with a gnawing, growing Sense

of Rapture, the Eagle

herald to our Victory in

stark Conclusion -- We

will bleed, we will Sing, we

will find each

other, again, in dignity

an instilled grievance here forgotten but

forever felt --