The Echo of Water
Alexandra Seidel
I
When you were young and I was young
and the world was a bird
still living in her egg,
you went to war in a foreign land.
II
Sand, always sand.
It unmade you there
where sun rules dream and myth
where kings want crowns
to rule the sun.
You died there,
and I wept.
III
I saw ages born and die again
without you.
There was never another
because love made when the earth was still a child
is a love that knows nothing of death.
IV
When you returned to me,
after the war, after death,
you were a stranded ship,
broken hull, sails torn like dreams,
but you had brought the sand with you.
V
You touch me
and your fingers leave grains of sand
to mix with my salt.
When I squint I can still see
where the wind that lives in deserts touched you
and turned you with its touch.
Whenever you touch me
you leave sand on my skin.
VI
Our love is old
it cannot die
but we are alive
and must change.
Where are the lovers that worshiped the moon made whole?
And where are you, the you
before you bled?
VII
I could go – down,
where shadows live,
and try to find yours among them.
What would I find there
in that night with no moon
except the you that was, riverdrowned,
waterchanged, impossible
to carry back up,
but maybe I might kneel by the river that took you,
bend my head, split my salted lips
and drink.
And then the you I love the most
will be the echo of water
living inside me.
Alexandra Seidel writes poems and stories about things that are…real. Kinda. Her work can be found at places like Lackington’s, Strange Horizons, Mythic Delirium, and others. If you are so inclined you can follow Alexa on Twitter (@Alexa_Seidel) or read her blog: http://tigerinthematchstickbox.blogspot.com/