Ode to an Ocean Mirage

My body is a boat

That has sprung a leak in the soul

The water is coated with ice

But still feels inviting

Off in the distance, I see you for the first time.

You appear to me in phases.

At first, the promise of land—

A safe and warm place for me to take shelter,

Luscious green and sweet sweltering heat

Your welcoming smile

The second phase—A siren

O, how you torment me with your song!

The boat is lowering down into the ocean

But I pay no attention, I realize it is too late

There is nothing I can do except

Cherish your sorrowful music

I am beyond drowning

The third phase—the Greek statue

You take on the shape of an ancient work of art

Perhaps you were a goddess.

Of what? Deceit? Love? Sorrow?

You gaze at me with marble eyes, no arms (like that scene in the french film)

And I float underwater

Wondering who it was that created you?

I am propelled upwards and sent crashing onto the sands

The fourth phase—you appear to me as the mirror you always were, is mirage the right word?

I saw you for who you truly were.

My own projection of a false image.

A false hope.

A false love.

You were not the land.

You were not the siren.

You were not the statue.

You were simply human.

You were just like me.

You were stuck in your own boat.

You were just given a faulty compass

And a map with the best intentions

That led you somewhere

You didn’t necessarily want to go

But the journey wasn’t so bad either, was it?

Because at least one of us

Learned how to swim.