Water, water everywhere
And not a bridge to cross -
We’ve seashells washed ashore for ears,
We’ve sand drifting through my fingers for
tears.
We’ve lost them, lost them–all those years
Not crossing coordinates, pirates at sea,
With sails afloat, with the winds pulling
aside
A thousand nexuses, yet we at both ends,
A league of connections, who’d never
guessed
The X on the map is a single chest:
Two paths leading to it, from east, from
west.
This journey’s but the past regressed.
Help me out of it now, I plead.
The lifebuoy’s on the deck to throw.
Woman overboard, drowning slow.
The captain’s on the prow, scanning the
view
Of landscapes distant, of hemispheres new.
The southern winds beckon, like sirens in
mist.
The northern fjords are swimming in their
pools, sun-kissed.
This journey is my past regressed.
This maelstrom, stranded tempest in my
breast -Help
me out of it now, I plead,
But in severance, sea brine heals what
bleeds.
The ghosts of wrecks in depths downstairs,
Who fuel the absence in the air
And skeletons find the treasure’s lair
A woman overboard, water everywhere
We’ve flung them, cargo, crew and gear-
While
mermaids’ songs shall meet them there-
We’ve lost them, lost them, all those years.
30 April 2006
Diliman, Quezon City
The post Seasickness appeared first on The Manila Times Online.