those that swim upstream

i am so grateful for the souls
who swim upstream of time
learn from disease and silence
love from the heart of darkness. 

who walk into my days
like a pitcher pouring summer,
quietly determined 
like water shaping rock

who build sanctuaries
and with green fingers
tend to dreams bold and small,

who laugh like roaring oceans
smother lovers into their skin
and entice gods with their courage,
the life-giving ogres and casual saints
whose feet shake the stage of life.

i thank those whose presence
opens the horizon with a sigh,
a hum of bees
while we 
make breakfast
open a temple
flirt with an island
become tantrikas
record songs
survive lockdown
throw wish-rocks in the sea
rub up the wrong way
painfully fail 
hug in the biergarten
read old prayers
forget love
visit mothers
bleed in a pile
watch tornadoes of crows.

you are dancing raindrops in my skies,
water-bearers for all our thirsty hearts. 

thank you for all the battles you have lost
to be 
so magnificently 
here.