Undercurrents

"Stay away from the water
You're just a child!"
But can the thirsty remain sane
After what they've seen?
After that first deep breath
From the emergence of the dream
When those amniotic seas
Gave up their dead
And our spirit
With its parchness
For soluable flesh was wed
In the secret vows
Of the inexhaustible
Flowing upward
From our likeness within
You and I were caught
Inside the image then
Frozen into space and time
Like tiny drops
Of early morning dew
Conscious beads of sweat
Perspiring from wet earth
Out of some richer groundwork
Strangely come to birth
Our fragile surface
A thing more still than any lake
The winds of life have ever kissed
Where the depth of each soul
Swims at its own risk

And is it any wonder
That I never saw your image clear?
I was always in danger
Of getting to near
Of getting to near the edge
But then one day
You bound my arms
Around my heart
And threw me in
The deepest part saying
"Swim goddamnit! Swim!"
And so I did
Breathless to this hour
That endless sinking into
Adulthood
That was the end
Of my innocence drowned
And the buoyancy
My manhood found
As I learned to live
With those longings
That I could not rise above
And rescue those parts
In need of love

Yet still to this day
What I had wanted most
Has drifted away from
What I now expect
Down the slow liquid years
Of my neglect
For despite all
The bright foam of blame
We would never surface the same
In each others eyes
The same sea in all of us
Our compromise

The same sea in all of us
Our compromise