Zero Gravity

Wake

Wake (for Stephen Watson)

Slow down; slow down;

what is that you are

dragging in the wake behind you?

This mountain is one

an ancient glacier called to account.

Beneath its flat crest now much daily business, bustle, hubbub

and beyond, beneath that veneer,

deep undertow, contesting currents whittling

down sandstone and granite to a

peninsula even thinner.

I also learned here

beneath the mountain, in this wet place, something

to last me through dry nights bereft of wine, malt,

sumptuous communion of bodily fluid. But

with so much sun, shadow

must follow, the words have

long lineage, there is

aphorism locked in

their seeming innocence

a dark truth, to break

whose code you will

have to dig

deeply or

take with you, take home,

keep for later, carry

across other mountains, across other oceans,

last, last sea

slow down, slow down, unhook this promontory, unfasten this kingdom,

swim alone, long last, swim

forever,

swim free.