Barricade

but when the whole sea flowed down

breaking the barricade and flooding in

wave upon wave upon wave

we saw the trees bend and break

the land shook and the air even split

making way for the depths—

                   sounds of clapping and stomping

                   many voices shouting together—

cries of children desperately clutching to their mother’s promises

of long life, big dreams, and what-you’ll-make-of-things,

                   until all is swept underneath

                   in under a quiet roar

breaking air into screaming;

beneath no longer breathing,

stretching lungs with burning coals

                                                                   bulging eyes,

(letting love into the lies we’ve been living in,

like waking up under water, in a brilliant war

catastrophied and constantly under fire,

looking at a world pre-wasteland, pre-ending,

as if an apocalypse had birthed itself upon your mind,

                  

experiencing everything as it is: blind,

                               wretched, naked and poor,

                   what more can i ask for here, among the hollow men…)

(white garments, eye salve, gold refined by fire,

i exchange everything, all i see and don’t see, for this hand

                        knocking, knocking, knocking)