The Well

The Well

I.

I asked All There Is
To show me the way;
She said, Go to the well.

And silence fell
On my shoulders, in my heart,
Beyond my comprehension.

She said, Go to the well.
Where in this world of cities and scrapers
Would I find something so rich?

Where wishes lay
Curling rainbow slicks
On the surface of deep cold water

Where pennies still fall
Copper laden with dreams
Of youth and old bones

Where the lazy drip
Of silence
Reins wild thought

Where breath is alive
And dances with air
Crisp, green, sweet frost

Where laughter flies
Echoes refrain echoes
As mirrors face mirrors

Slipping eternal; one
Soothing refrain of silence
In its crystalline wake.

II.

And so I walked,
Waked, dreamed, cried,
Laughed through this multiverse

Seeking the well,
Knight for grail,
Whale for less hunted seas;

Asked sea and sky,
Shore and flame
For knowledge of the well.

Four corners shrugged
And I stumbled
Home.

Home.
No closer
To journeys end.

Cried, slept, dreamt
Waked at my kitchen table
Yet did not lift my head for years.

III.

Solitary diner surprised;
A friend calls and we
Speak of our lives into the morning.

Candle-warmed smiles
And in the silence
Of friendship,

Faint liquid sighs,
Moist laughter
Rising to the surface.

Hours fall away;
Days slip as a silk dress
From a lover.

Years drift
As the timeless things
They truly are.

IV.

A dream
Interrupting my bliss,
She smiles, "Go to the well,"

As I crawl
Upon broken shards,
Heart like glass beneath my feet.

Shard become whole -
Become chime -
Giving voice to healing song.

I stand, rise, fly,
And in my delight,
See the well

Constant
And now
So clear,

And drop a stone
To speak
To the pool below.

Each drop,
Tear, song,
Joy and cloud

Shifting,
One and the same
As I see with an angel's eyes,

Then drop long and fast
To play and splash in the heart of the well
As any child would.