the only constant (an older poem)

The Only Constant
19 October 1997 for Bear, David & Ken


We do not sink into the abyss
in order to sink.

You will not travel
at great peril
from your fertile valleys
over mountain gorges,
through snow &
the continued threat of death --
or worse --
only to reach the shore
& release
a resigned breath
in briny finish.

Though opinions clamor,
no one can tell you
where you're going
or give you a true map
demarcating the impossibilities
of the twisted path ahead.

You do not have to be told.

As for today
& your whereabouts,
who would dare
interrogate your old travels --
the forked roads taken, choices of company
or dead ends -- who would dare
& find you lacking?

You are here, now,
& there is no ugliness
in change.

There is no reason to drown
when the abyss is waiting,
when the deep wants to feel you
flail & choke & give,
then decide it matters,
decide to struggle free
& rise, rise breaking the surface
& breathe sharp clean air --

taking it in, claiming it

as though
for the first time.



~

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