a lonely silhouette returns
upon the inland sea
to keep my eyes from looking up
I focus on the haze ahead
whose ghosts are shepherded
by chills that trip
and undulating haze
no voice
no peace
no anchor here
no remedy can permeate

loss -- is this loss
with sudden introspection
with my scanning of horizon
and my hands in restless motion
loss has left me at the surface
left me to this little ocean
gone to settle at the bottom
with its tortured concentration loss on the inland sea
through fear I keep myself aboard upon
the inland sea
whose barnacles have sured me up
whose salt has shrunk
my wooden boards
and every drop it seems to me could
pull my fragile craft apart
no rest
no flag
no pleasures here
no beam to break
the ghastly murk

so -- is this sorrow
a romantic disposition
with my gaze out
through the phantoms
all in doom and weak confusion
sorrow wracked me on the water
made me desperate and open
just to pass on from the deck and sink
down to some silent treasure
sorrow on the inland sea
a lonely figure there
upon the inland sea

whose hollow mask is shot
with grief
which calcifies with melancholy
my heart is overboard
my mind drops
through the oily deep
no life
no thought
no entropy
a surface that I shall not see