dig for me

on land, i could never find the sweetness

you prescribed for me. i am too stubborn

to be only caramel. nothing solid keeps me

together. i cannot spill for you to taste.

i could tell you i am spun gold,

that as i tread these fickle waters, i lose my luster.

i could tell you that sometimes the pale moon with

all her fissures tells me she envies the way i leave

everything bluer than before. she says it is inexplicable

but i know better: it’s got something to do with refraction

or extraction.

sometimes i wonder if i really am just packaged caramel.

you crack me open and i am undone. but instead, i seep.

i seep into makeshift trails and veins and canyons and

i make it better: sunshine does not have to scorch to bring

warmth. there is value here in the core that you cannot

pick at or sell. when i find myself again, you will feel

my weight as i cool. you can try to sink me all you like.

you can try to find me in the foam where the sea

otters entangle themselves in me and my reedy

limbs. but i will not reach the floor with my feet. i will not

root myself for the urchins to nibble at with their needle

teeth. years from now, when you stop looking, when i wash

up on your shores, you will try to filter me out, try to quantify

my properties for your property. you will chart and track:

this element sings. this element tells stories. this element has a voice.

but as you wither, i remain untarnished with all this

precious wonder you could only try to decipher.