Month: July 2021

heart
please
don’t tremble
here she comes
walking up to us
pulling the ocean
behind her
across the sand
like a giant
bluegreen quilt

her hair like ink
spilled
on the breeze

voice
please
it’s no time
to hide

find my lips
say
something

she’s looking at us

at first we searched
for caves
to hide
from nature’s
creatures and her temper

we played outside
in the daytime
and when the sun
turned its back on us
we hid inside
by the fire
to dream

we dreamed of walls
and woke up one morning
knowing that we
could make caves
whenever we want
instead of relying
on the sympathy of mountains
or the kindness of forests

the walls
were meant to swaddle us
so we can sleep
through nature’s unknown
and dream new things

but as our walls
grew bigger
we got arrogant
and one day
instead of building walls
around ourselves
we started building walls
around nature too

the cave grew bigger
and nature smaller

then this big cave
with everyone in it
became too loud
we could no longer sleep
so we built more walls

this time
around each other

we made smaller caves
one person long
one person wide
and we hung photos
of ourselves
on the walls
in case someone visits
but no one visits

now we lie awake
at night
in our cave for one
nothing more
than cavemen
whose only fire
is our yearning
to sleep
outside