Fathoms, Gazing
For Heather
When the night came And I began to sink Beneath the tide You found me Because you were already there You had learned to live In the space Between water and wood Your bridal veil Had become the glowering dim Of a capsized row boat Breathing salt and stale air Counting memories in the gashes Of your once trusted vessel You endured Gentle but well-worn Sure in your hand-holds Adorned in sorrow And still You taught me to breathe With lungs full of water To ignore the lapping waves On the soft hulls of our bodies You held me As I swam to the sea floor And sieved through wreckage Searching for anything That meant something And when you noticed My panicked eyes You gave me space To be mistaken You let me believe There could be a life vest At the bottom of the ocean Because you knew I’d find one In your grace Above the weight of water You are whipping wind The gift of weathering Like salt decay A fine mist That enrobes the world In crystalline intention Dissolving elements With the deliquescing love Intrinsic to time You are a reaction Both chemical and alchemical Dissolution and conjunction Spagyric poultice Like a soft ease Caressing broken blood vessels On the face of the world You are the starlight Kissing skin in darkness Enough to illuminate the path To every heart That finds its way to your gravity Held in orbit Around the chasmal effulgence Of your loving soul Where I now rest Held in you Basal darkness Cradles nucleic warmth Beneath glistering astra We have survived A starlit ocean Umber cold upon our hearts Suffuse with thermic ache Of mislaid love We learned to breathe Our own air But always we swim Together