Cabin Fever

The River

9-5-03

Come inside my boat child,
do not fear.
I will give you words of advice
and allow you to steer.
We shall take a voyage
across the waters far and wide.
Take my hand...
come inside.

Here you'll see your place to stay.
Love it with all of your heart.
Our journey will take us through many moons.
If you're ready we'll start.
We're off and on our way
to places never discovered.
What we find along the way may surprise,
but we are serious for treasure.
          What we find along the way will surprise,
          for we are to find Forever.

The water's calm,
the ship is away.
We are free amongst ourselves,
marking off each day.
In your conversation I do delight;
please take me further.
Your eyes are majestic in the light
and your smile shines like no other.

Now we've reached a port,
and another and another.
Time's been taken together
as I've taken you for a lover.
Under the stars we kiss;
I cover you as you shiver.
The air will never cast a chill
over every promise I dare to deliver.
          Under the stars we kiss longingly
          as we journey down the river.

Every secret has been shared and spent
and my companion I adore.
We care not about how we got here
but what we can do with more.
Night after endless night the love we make
is reaching greater heights.
We've begun to find our destination.
Our Forever is in our sights.

I rise in the morning to your stirring.
'Tis your head or the clouds?
We're not far from going nowhere
as the drizzling mist surrounds.
You've taken to your quarters
to wait out the rain.
My love, my fair mate,
has let the storm begin.
          My love, my longing personified,
          is she now gone again?

I steady the craft righteous
as the clouds begin to clamor.
I look for my love to offer confidence
but her heart has taken anchor.
Waves begin to churn
and in my skin I quiver.
This is not how it began,
this trip that I would give her.

"Land-ho, land-ho," I yell,
throwing my sails around.
On the horizon I see clear
but from the deck I hear not a sound.
The sun's beginning to cover
the water from up high
and as soon as she's ready,
my rider I will revive.
          As soon as the sun hits our faces,
          my love will be redefined.

I look to her as we wade
down the chopped bits.
The roughest waters now been overcome,
still I can't make out what's left.
Our journey had started small,
with little direction or mystique.
Soon we opened and learned our path
and evaded death by hand of sea.

We stopped at the bank of an old town
and began to take a walk.
First time in months off the boat,
without a word to talk.
I followed the blocks around;
my love, she had withered.
There was no recourse.
She was alone aside the river.
          We stopped to find a place in Forever,
          but in Forever she was no longer there.

I started my voyage home,
having seen what I set to.
There were many surprises along the way,
some of which I didn't know of what to do.
I saw a friend become a lover
on the way to Forever.
I lost a lover to Forever,
a friend no longer of the river.

She left after the aftermath
but just before the clearance.
If not to make a life of trying,
then a trail of unfulfilled sense.
We know nothing when we start
nor the danger of the flesh.
The end is always as certain
as the stranger you give your best.
          Nothing's given when you set out;
          on arrival you're aware of what it's been about.