WATERMARK

Messages From the Deep Past

Follow the trees, the green. Carry
a lantern through the wide fields.

Sing against the wind. Follow the blue
line. Why would I lie, when the sun

is so bright? Isn’t this what you wanted?
Nothing left to lose? I am encased

in a woody, thorny vine. I am lost, though
everything seems familiar. There are twin

daughters; one is evil, the other weak. I’ve
crossed from the bright to the dark side

of the road. One must ingest the venom
of many snakes to reach enlightenment.

How did a whole race of people lose its sense
of rhythm? She lays herself across the lake,

on thick grey ice. There is much poverty
and sickness. Flooding, swamps, war, disease.

It takes three people to reproduce here: a man,
a woman, and another kind of woman, who

lives in the sea. There is little I can do, these
late, swift years, but watch fate unfold.