a sea'sighed song

there's a break in the night where the clouds are split through,
and numberless eyes are opened wide.
they see with their shining, they look with their light;
when they watch they can't cover, can't hide.

in sky their points are fixed, their figures locked in place,
but on surf['s f]aces they dance and diffract.
new constellations crest on every wave, mixed and moving;
reflected now, they find they can [re]act.

you show your skin and i'll show my scars;
you be the sea, and i'll be the stars.

over water wings come skimming, full-sheeted, straining for[e] . . .
beneath, the heaving hull has found its home.
its crewmen trade myths, fill the ship's heart to brimming;
its touch is light as breezes while it roams.

surface winds originate with currents in the deep;
the shipmen read those patterns in their wake.
the vessel lives like liquid, never sleeps and never waits;
its touches tease the surface; deep runs ache.

you tell your truth and i'll tell our tale;
you be the sea, and i'll be the sail.

lightning casts electric tendrils into boiling blue,
wild winds churn waves high as skies.
the tempest transforms tranquil waters, stirs what once lay still;
long-sunken shipwrecks tremble to a_rise.

the sea accepts the cyclone's roar and feeds it of itself:
its substance is the seething cloudhead's fuel.
the more the ocean offers, the more the rain restores;
their passion proves the promise of the pool.

you keep your word, and i'll keep you warm;
you be the sea, and i'll be the storm.

salt's origin in stone lets it stand unimpressed by fire,
and pressure merely strengthens its resolve,
but water has her ways, and when washed into the waves it owns
its destiny: to gratefully dissolve.

in every drop the ocean wide, the tide takes on that taste;
together, salt and sea obey new laws.
by ions bound they share their weight, conduct more charge in_s[tr]ide;
such liquid later freezes, sooner thaws.

so if you've taken me in, i find it no fault;
you be the sea, and i'll be the salt.

~

to look, to touch, to mark, to melt – [e]motive are these trysts,
such treasures! once their ways were all i claimed.
but as time tempered tru[e]st ties, a further force was felt,
and rose as surely as the source i've left to last be named.

to show, to tell, to keep, to take – one-sided these may sound,
but echoes live[n] more than mirrors mine,
and when i hear the whisper of your breath as i awake,
my dreams are drawn to shores as dawnsong shines.

when you churn, when you crash,
when i burn, when i flash,
when you're brave, when i'm bright,
when your wave crests and cradles all the lines of my light,
in will and word wound, bo[u]nded free, on fire and fathom fed –
from you and me, let us be we, and wind our way to wed.

and as we track this trail we teach,
and bask on this, our [sp]ray-ringed beach
we find where time and tide are twined, where star and surf are stirred as one.
with hands held fast we rise and reach
to dedicate our day, so be it done:

you be the sea, and i'll be the sun.

i first wrote this poem for katja in march 2009.
the lines after ~ are new this year.

i spoke these words to her by the sea,
on rocks where we have many memories,
as i gave her the ring.

ryn m.
april 2013