In the dark throws of a summer tide on the Chesapeake Bay
We, in little crafts, drifted into abysmal unknown decay
Like Native warriors who once parted in their hunting parties
Like children swept in black fire of night and searing stars
We paddled into the wind but then winds changed their mind
Luring us away as if the challenge was a bait to bid
In the dark form of night the waves waxed grander and immense
More than I could handle in my heart’s storage of suspense
We spoke in stories and memories as perhaps Natives once shared
The lifting and lowering of the same tides they once dared
But we were unaware and very much alive with prospect
Each wave bending round our boats like sounds refract
In the dark mystery of morning I remembered us as we were
We almost slipped away in the blur of sky and salt there
I awoke in that flame of memory, knowing time would diffuse
So shuttered to hold onto it lest I profane that mighty muse
The deep night, the deep void, the deep Mind undiscovered
Where waves begat imagination, and that birthed my wonder
SOUNDS + SILENCES 