Off the Deep End

Learn to read and speak from lost tongues

your language, whatever it is

wherever you are

Find the map, the locals

ask –

Where to find the freshest loaves

tea perfectly steeped

books carefully worn

to see your face

framed in window steam

Worth each step a shard of glass, each a

bloody footprint, leaving

the burden of pushing against gravity –

every breath

Instead of letting oxygen slide

through lungs better adapted to this earth

Oh the freedom that could be found

in piercing your heart

Just the once, without conviction

a small incision to save a life

You would surely understand

Water has its own level to seek

and I was worth more than catch and release