In the Sea of Dismay

In the Sea of Dismay or A Concerning Confession
by Aubrey Quinn

Upon a calm night’s sea, I float;
my boat circled by moonlight’s moat.
In the darkness, horizon blurred;
sea, stars, and sky, a pot well stirred.
Without a compass or rudder,
my senses and locale obscured.

The sea, a broken mirror of
the stars in the heavens above.
The white orbs of my upturned eyes
stardust in the infinite skies.
Suspended in serenity,
a soft, silver glow engulfs me.

A word from your lips
falls into the sea, releasing
ripples' rings of waves unceasing.
From under the moon’s spotlight I
drift, into the sea’s midnight fire;
cast by flame into darkness’s mire.

A word from your lips
veers tempest’s winds, swelling still sails.
Choice of course a leaf long dead, blown
by a sudden, stiff gale into
the sky above. Path only shown
by leaf’s dance between eddy’s whims.

A word from your lips
stirs my mind’s Kraken. Arms of the
beast pierce this world, circling my boat
with the rains of seawater’s moat.
Tentacles of beast steal my ores,
dragging them down to Neptune’s shores.

What dark arts summoned such unrest?
What frost in early spring distressed
the tender buds of new romance?
A fortnight's courtship, love confessed
too soon; a premature advance.

We know each other, you, and I,
like the moon knows a butterfly.
Our encounters like white flowers
glowing heavily in twilight;
stem and leaf cast in shadow’s night.

In the sea of dismay,
where logic sinks and feelings float,
I hug the mast of rocking boat.