At Sea
Literally, not figuratively this time, like my always
Trying to keep my head above water, then treading it
As best I can, while I watch for sharks and shoals,
but not this time, I’m literally in it, on it, as far as I can
see is sea, ripples, waves to the horizon, a dark slate,
always coming from somewhere, always going away,
repetitious, it rocks us, hums to us, to itself always,
a chop, a roll, a swell, we stretch language to catch it,
it traps our step as we walk the deck, like drunks full
of time we search the horizon, it seems familiar and
unfamiliar, a friendly stranger, a strange friend, a place
we have never been, a place we will always be, this is
it, the loneliness we share, a precise measure of our days.
