The Two Cliffs

The heart is a bitter bulb

Bearing brackish, barbed blossoms

Kneaded, knotted roots and gnarled shoots

The heart is a boorish beast

Blunt, budging, beating

Beating away time

Filling my faltering blood with fear

Fear; oh, foul fields of fear

That stretch trillions of treacherous miles

Ending abruptly at the colossal cliffs of yes and no

Here I stand

Facing this field

Shoots and stalks of bitter bulbs

Brimming with beasts, bellowing over the pounding of me

I could have crossed my foot

Clawing towards time as it pounded past

Making a break for the shade of certainty

But I, I chose the river

The long and languorous serpent

Slithering away toward the endless Black Sea

A dilapidated boat upon this wistful river

I float beside the shores of fear

And in the water's gentle rocking, my harried heart grows quiet

The banks edge closer

And the trees rise in tightly, in the dimming twilight

In this pulsing silence, I hear your voice, my dear

I hear your voice, my dear

Your voice whispers through the leeds, like a summer breeze

And my heart, though fettered in the tangled fields of fear

Now whispers back

A hushed harmony of lilting leaves, and rippling reeds

Please, my dear

Though I long alone your fearsome fringes

Send me some light

A Moon, a guide

That I may steal myself from the clumsy cockle's gashing

Obscured along the riverside

If by chance I reach the sea

And drift not off course or capsize

By cruel decree of an indifferent wind

If my foolhardy voyage brings me nigh

The two towering cliffs with faith beside

Thy violent sea of tranquil cove

Which song the wind shall sing of love

That dove borne yes or no

Of shattered boats, and requiems

Oh, please my dear

If you see me there

Tossing, turning, down below

Give me your hand, or at least cast an eye

That I might see just one last time, your merciful gaze

Before I'm dashed to rubble, and swept away