it will quiet you

// Zephaniah 3:17//

do you remember back when you were seven, that time you slipped

underwater?

little bubbles crept out from your mouth (the one I carved) and the end of your nose (the one I put there, carefully)

your shoulders, bare, were pressed down and the ends of your hair spiraled

all about your head.

and I loved you. right then.

now.

and do you remember looking up and the sun was just

paint smudges?

all outside the surface of the pond was sky and blue and yellow, and all of it for you.

underneath you remained, quiet and looking up.

and I loved you.

do you remember the feeling of heaviness? all around was smooth water, warm,

and there was no denying - my adoration is like this always.

always.

always.

do you remember?

are you heavy with the thought of how much love rests on you,

engulfs you?

and you can't out-swim it, you can't find the bottom of it.

there is no floor and

no dark place where bad things live and hide behind rocks.

are you too worried about life?

don't be.

...I will give you gills to be inside love always

always

always

and the sky will be a beautiful painting above you.

you don't even need air.

go slip under again and with your shoulders, bare,

let it quiet you.