I had a dream about us.
You asked me to tell you what you looked like
On the inside
But I could not find the words;
So I took you to a promontory
That overlooked a calm and steady sea,
The sun hung about the horizon—
A fiery red ball;
Even though the gentle breeze
Blew ripples on the surface
It only added to the calming effect—
Too much stillness would have been unsettling.
There is a natural grace to the whole ensemble,
It is the picture perfect cliché of serenity;
And you, on the surface,
The perfect semblance
Of the shy, gentle, brooding poet.

Taking your hand I led you to the water’s edge,
You gasped, startled that there were no shallows in this sea
No gradual decline of the beach floor,
There is water—and there is you.
“Peer into this water and tell me what you see.”
I see nothing but miles of liquid blues.
“No love, you have to look closer,
Throughout there are things moving and growing
Invisible to those who can not see beyond the blues,
Quicksilver fish that dart about
And those that lurk in the dark full of poison;
Plants that grow to nourish and protect
And those that attack and devour what they capture;
But overall
There is life—
Ever changing
Ever moving
In you
There is your pain, and your fear
Your passion, and your smile
Your capacity to love—
It is this great expanse of sea
As ready to roil about in the most fearsome of storms
As to lull and inspire poets such as I,
It is the very core of you
Unpredictable as life itself
Exciting and intriguing
Mysterious as the miles of blue in the sea
Look here and study
For this is what you look like on the inside.”

09/23/2004

Posted on 09/23/2004
Copyright © 2025 Teri T Lahmon