By the Sea

The tumultuous ocean of my mind Seems to ebb and flow with the moon, Cycling through high and low tides That all the while wear away the sands of time On the coasts of my consciousness. Just out from shore there is A Dam; a levee of sorts: oaken and reaching past the sky. Behind it are Poisonous waters, dangerous to taste Painful to breathe. All the wild, unkempt, hollow, Midnight thoughts Churn and roil on a stormy sea- Just past my wooden Dam. At the forefront of my mind Calm, vacation ocean waters lap at the shore… But then A single leak springs from the Dam, Which is holding back the force with all its might, But the leak sprouts cracks, Letting increasingly hazardous amounts of poison pass, And soon the Dam Explodes From the pressure of the sea. Now the whole ocean is tainted And all’s fair. It takes me weeks to rebuild another poorly engineered Blockade For the venom in my veins And to purify the vast sea, freeing it from evil. Then I’m back to a new moon, Soon to slide into the pattern of leaks, to gushes, to cracks, to Explosions And poison And cleaning up my own mess. Maybe someday I’ll learn to build with steel, Or the moon will cease its pull, And I’ll be free to sail- Someday.