A rowboat in the ocean
So lost you are
So beautiful, so lost, content in silence, the rhythmic waves
…Rising, Falling
…Rising, Falling
Not even sure what you’re looking for
Just knowing currents and tides will bring you comfort
…Line over the side, not fishing, not quite
……More like playing absentmindedly
……More like hands twitching as you fall asleep
……More like wondering what creatures live below the surface
…Never expecting to see
Sure that the sight is meant for more important eyes than yours.

There is none more important than You.

Or you. Or I.
Or them. Or us. Or we.

None more important than the ones in that boat
None more important than those who half believe
…Than those who sleep their way through life
…That half-believe that life could be better
……Or bigger. Or faster. Or more.
……But that life happens to Other People
…People more worthy, more strong,
…People in books, in faery tales, in song, in legend.
Hands twitching as you sleep
Boat rising higher than it should be
Pushed by something underneath
Something not quite cresting
An unseen force that raises you higher than before
And in your dreams you remember
…That once you were someone who searched
…That once you were someone who dreamed and desired
…That once you believed that there were dragons at the edge of the world…

It’s not the bait on your innocent line that has piqued my interest.

I hear sounds in your sleep
…The sounds you used to listen for
…The dreams you used to have
…The things you used to search for
The You that you’ve forgotten

It echoes inside of me like the sound of a drip in a silent cavern
…Echoing my stillness
…Echoing my forgottenness
…Calling me to your side like rhythm
……Like thunder and rain
……Like the sound of water on leaves
……Like the sound of the serpent in the grass
…Like the scent of summer
…Yes, you are dreaming,
But make no mistake, you have called me.

You are so innocently unaware of what you’ve done
…And even that is delicious
Still sleeping, echoing dreams
I could vanish in a moment and you would never know I was there
…Never know how close I was
…Never know how I watched you as you slept
……Never know that it’s not your dreams that called me
……But the way you’ve put them away.
…The way I’ve put them away.
…The way we all, sooner or later,
Put them away.

So I must choose,
…do I slip beneath these waves in silence
……Never waking you
……Never letting you see
…Never
It is perhaps
The better choice
To not wake up these things in myself
To not view the dreams I’ve given up in the harsh light of day

Oh but the sound of you is so sweet
You are savory in my brain
…Like the scent of a good stew
……With notes of Lemongrass
…Exotic, like heavy bass
……With overtones of Bhangra
…Like things I’ve never tasted or smelled
……Sandalwood and Rose
……Or street food in South America
……The feel of satin and leather

I am a force of nature
…Uncontrollable
I get off this ride where I want to
…And I’m not sure if I do.
But you are a tasty morsel, to be sure,
And no one contains me without my permission.
I am not to be contained.
…Like Leviathan, I am not for owning
……I am for experiencing
………For reminding you of your mortality
………For showing you gaping jaws that remind you
………How good it is to be alive
………How good your life is in this world

…How you should not be sleeping.

I’ve come to wake up the Strongest of Dreamers.
…and I am only slightly surprised by your blurry edges
…by the way your tiny human hand squeezes the smallest of my pods
……like an infant and a finger
…the way you turn in your sleep like a plant toward sunlight
reaching towards what you have not seen, but you remember.

Who made you so small, love?
What made you put your dreams away?
…How have you forgotten the songs of our tribe?
…How have you forgotten what you are?
This will feel like disaster, I know.
And I am so sorry, but you called me here
…You dangled this line
…You called in your sleep
……You don’t know it but you called for rescue
……and you have no idea that this has nothing to do with me,
…that the only one who can rescue you
is You.

I am what I am
……and what I am is too large for that boat.

It’s an accident, I swear, the leaks and crackings
…But it’s a consequence of getting too close.
Your world is about to turn upside down
…and you are due for the rudest of awakenings.
I am about to do you a huge favor

My presence and my leaving will smash that boat
…And if you open your eyes
…it will set you free.