In the Hold of the Deep

 Life is like a window exposed gradually

            by the tide, and you, not seeing ahead, trusting

            the wisdom of flowing.

 

You may not know where currents

will lead in their curious compulsions.

You may not even know

if you are the ship or the sea,

 

a reader of heaven’s oracular map

or a sailor lost beneath the waves there

in the hold of the deep, who, when reaching

for the moon’s pale smile, finally learns to swim.

 

Jennifer Pratt-Walter, © 2020