Aqualung

You had been treading water
long before our eyes met;

I watched you swallow oceans,
cough them up between patches
of thick black smoke...
A landlocked hurricane
coming up for air
between crashing waves
and turning locks;
always choking back the tides
that would drown her
because no one wanted to walk
her rocky shores.

Not for long, anyway.

I've wanted to tell you,
That the bags under your eyes
and the lines on your face
have always looked like something
I could call home;
That you've got a smile
like a car crash in slow motion--
catastrophic, awe-inspiring,
breathtaking and tragically beautiful...
but something about all that saltwater
makes my mouth run dry
every time those big blue eyes
reach out and swallow mine whole.


Maybe you're destined
to sink to your grave;
just a bit too much
for the steady soil
beneath your feet.
Maybe you're just too much...


but I would drown, myself,
before I'd let you be convinced

that you are not enough