PaulG

Tethers

I dreamed last night and, in my dreaming,

I was diving deeply in a warm weltering sea,

Exulting in strong lungs and slender-lithe body

That gave me this life of slow motion.

Swimming among fishes. Looking for the oyster.

Looking for the oyster, where the single grain of sand:

Metamorphosed to a soft white, near-glowing pearl;

Metamorphosed from a thing of simplicity,

To an object of avarice that captures man's greed.

Then I felt it!

The sharp tug of the tether at my ankle

Reminding me, even deep in the sea,

I was just a tool of the avarice and greed,

That would drown me thoughtlessly were I slow,

That would subject my body to rude intrusion

To be sure that I hid no creamy white gem.

Then I awoke.

And mused my sea-freedom was illusory

But now, awake, I knew liberty.

Then I remembered.

Remembered the tethers of modern life:

Elastic tethers that snap me back if I stray,

Tethers of obligation and contribution.

Then I knew

Life is like the grain of sand and has

Metamorphosed too.

The Clown

I remember you in a ballgown,

I thought you strangely exotic

With your brightly red lips,

Mascara'd eyes and rouged cheeks.

I thought of clowns;

My mother, the clown.

(c) 2001 Paul Greenhow

Paul Greenhow

An Ohio-based Englishman, and editor of the excellent PW Review. Paul has a new hobby: whale watching.