Sunday, January 6, 2013

Keeper

Keeper

I'm a keeper of things
that would be lost,
that would, if they could,
disappear into thick fog
like the back of a ship
closed over by a mist so dense
it soaks a sailor's eyes
and gathers as tears on his lash.
Unblindled by the damp,
I hold tight the mast,
lash myself to packets
others throw away.
Overboard lightens someone's load
but doesn't help a ship sail true.
It doesn't pull me under,
that which would be lost;
it doesn't weigh me down.
The opposite of to be lost
is to be kept, not to be found.



4 comments:

  1. nice....we need keepers of things....love the difference you make between finding and keeping in the end ...and overboard lightening someones burden but....very cool verse with hidden depth...smiles.

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  2. Yes, there are those of us who are keepers of things. Beautiful.

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  3. Wow! Is that an illustration from Coleridge? I love those last two lines. I love the whole thing, actually.

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