A Fall of Water

 

An opportunistic element, water

Flowing down as it’s easy

And rising is so very hard

We are mesmerized by waterfalls

Trickles, rivulets, cascades of

Water as it does what is natural

Creating an orchestra of sound

A choreography of movement

A wavering veil of misting touch

The stillness of breathing suspended

While witnesses gasp, seduced by

The fall of water from heights

Too steep to climb, too severe

To ascend, pooling at the top

From rain, run off, other streams

Clearest, purest, secreting

The inevitable creed that

Water being shrewd and lazy

Takes the easy way down

Falling in sheets of splendor

Stopping hearts, holding tongues

While the moon remains

We too, we two, hiked up

The mountain’s well trod path

Believing we were the first and then

The only to hike the sheer face

Of our newness to each other

We tried roles in strange frontiers

I, fearless, you, omniscient

Creasing the masks until they fit

A symphony of universe

Dancing among boulders

Water dripping from our hands

Until wind buffeted the shells of

Our bodies and we lost balance

I fell against you, you against me

But we could not hold each other

As we could not hold ourselves

We fell like water, friends turning away

Who could watch the broken treaty

While we did what was easy

Opportunists, we toppled down

Hearts tangled amongst the limbs

While the moon remained

Sound of words we pledged

Silent echoes between our gasps

Around laces that bind our mouths

Once more we stand, shaken

Lift knees and bend hips

Scrabble among rocks and broken bones

Tears on your cheeks you reach up

I clasp your hand, pull your weight

We speak the same words, a new order

This current climb, conscious

Careful to see each footfall

To sense each word and to grasp

Not only sound but meaning

To see each with the other’s eyes

Because I do not have to feel

Every ache in this world to know

Each hurt pulsing in yours

And you do not need every sound

To hear the heart of my hunger

Now we stand atop the hill

Watching as water falls but we don’t

Still the moon remains

 

Waterfall image courtesy: public-domain-image.com