This is an old poem that was published in Dream International Quarterly once upon a time. I'm posting it here mostly to test out this new blogging interface that promises to allow me to indent text without the tedious space by space html edit required in Blogger. We'll see.
the depths of surrender
Almost of my own volition, I slip
into rough waves,
watch the small sailboat drift away
into the salty distance,
and I tread water in the midst
of this liquid desert,
not afraid, but aware that I will soon
drown, or at least
die of dehydration if my strength
does not give out first.
I orient myself to the moon, swim
toward what I believe
is the direction of land, my clothes
heavy and slowing me,
so I shed them, then naked in a vast
expanse of ocean,
a kind of enlightenment. Waves
wash over me and I
swallow water, feel the burn in my lungs,
the weight in my belly,
the dark night becoming darker as I lose
oxygen in my effort,
depths of being opening before me, a poem
of my life read in slow lines
as the exhaustion pulls me under
surface, without struggle,
and I fall quietly, calmly, into a strange
form of sleep,
a dream so vivid death ceases
to exist, where breath
is easy, more than natural, and I am,
finally, fully awake.
1 comment:
Bill, this is the most amazing poem that I have read yet. It speaks to me right now in the major stress out fest that I am having. For a little moment I felt as if I could be calm. That eventually all this struggle will cease and I will be at peace.
Erica "the stress case" Cornejo
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