RIP TIDE

RIP TIDE

it will all blow over
all be gone
next throw of the dice

compressed
into a space
ever so tiny

lead-lined
solid lock

to which the other
half of me (or
perhaps three-quarters)
telling
my sunlight self
to give him
a fucking break

or
(translating
direct from shadow-
speak)
what hope for the species
when it exalts its dredges

to them
doth lovingly entrust
its final demise

swept out and down
into the ocean trenches

sad
that in this last, last
wager

all so gung-ho
no one left to hedge their bets
rethink the logic
of rip tide
(sinking like stones
one and
all

two
for the price of one,
arm
in arm

no last magic
melding of
their warring selves