I know that for as long as the joints last, it will always happen so
Spume will bejewel the proud prow
And cracks will honor large masts.
Don’t worry, I listen to all that bright eyes tell me
And peeled calluses of foreign hands
And the saltiness of their faces
And the blood of their words
But people will always be people
And they will always see them as landlubbers.
Chronic days, Cronian days, before
I received my own gale warning
I won’t tell you that it didn’t scare me
And I won’t tell you that it didn’t make me laugh
But you knew both those things
I think you issued it.
I remember you with the compass and the shades
With the lines, the dots and the maps
Telling me about it and crossing your arms
As if one challenge wasn’t enough.
I won’t tell you that I didn’t puff out my chest
Like an insular rooster
I think we both know that it was fitting.
You know well – you should tell me as much, I like it –
That when the gale comes
Whether I win or lose, whether I am defeated or victorious
I will give it a tough go, just like it deserves
And that after the end
We will shake hands on it – or whatever else is left of us.
This morning thunders woke me up.
My cool sand sheets were dry
But my hard pillow quenched.
Tomorrow on, jet streams are taking over
And gale warnings will be redundant.
Tomorrow on, the course will have no land in sight
I can put out the large lanterns
And I will release my heavy silver anchor
Into porphyra’s bottomless depths.
Failed Paradigm 