Driftwood (April 2008)
I am pale-skinned driftwood
That water’s flooded ten thousand times
Until I’ve lost all sense of direction.
My east is now my west.
You reach for me,
Pull me from the water.
And I know I am broken,
But accept me as I am.
I will be good to you, Fisherman.
Take me in, dry me off;
Make me into what I wish I was.
I can be something beautiful.
You place me before your hearth.
The fire frightens me into silence.
Will you warm me or burn me up,
To finish life in a bed of ash?
I can’t always read you,
But I hope you’ll save me
And pass me down as a keepsake
With stories of my valor.
I see you are lonely, Fisherman.
And I think this land is killing you.
So take me to sea in your father’s boat.
I’ll go anywhere with you.
I will be the fishing rod
Whose spine never breaks;
The knotted carving knife
That fits your hand alone.
You see me for what I am:
Flooded, softened driftwood,
But I am made beautiful,
Because you love me as I am.
Detailed Description
This piece is about finding love and recognition of worth. I used the imagery of driftwood, as it is something that many people overlook as just ugly, warped debris that the ocean has washed ashore. Others, however, realize its great potential.
The Fisherman, like the Driftwood, is an outcast in our world. He does not feel at home on land, but he is lonely, and it is the only place where there is company. The Driftwood speaks to him, and asks him to accept it and make it into something beautiful, to see its potential; in return, the Driftwood will be good to the Fisherman and provide him with much-needed company at sea. In a way, this poem is about two outcasts finding one another and seeing in the other what so many before have missed.
Tagged under beauty, love, nature, poetry, relationships, romance, water
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