stinging and salty spray
off the bow of a weather beaten ship
let alone the freezing shock
of ocean waves
has not touched my skin
in six long years
and i am ready, my love
thick ropes of scars
begging to be touched by
the cold of the open ocean
i wonder if all that
clear blue water
hiding so much below the tide
has missed me, too
i am a parched man
laying in the middle of the desert
thinking of her lips on mine
my face in her neck
her sharp sharks teeth leaving
pin-pricks in my shoulder blades
and i know i have not loved
a man, nor a woman
like i have loved the sea
knowing that great uncaged
beast runs through my veins
always welcome and wanting
my love, never meant to be tamed
fills a void in me
right below my rib cage
packed with salty kelp and sand
if the infection doesn’t kill me
then the longing surely will
for the sea
she knows what i desire
and it sounds something
like please
something like home
something like you
something like you you you