River

The river was so clear.

I saw it and at once felt my madness fall away.

You were the river.

The river Troy,

the long, clear, quiet river.

Long and clear,

quietly flowing,

you were a river I had to dive into.

My feet were burning, and sure, my heart was a raging fire as well.

It would make sense,

since I was indeed on fire,

to jump,
fearlessly into water.
And yet, many rivers did not put those fires out.

Those fires were fully propagated,

those fires were not even reasonable.

I passed through many rivers,

walking through,

then running,

bare feet slipping and clinging and bleeding on broken stones.
But you,

you-I jumped into, slipped quietly inside of.

I threw off my burning clothes,

I jumped into your clear blue water.
You cooled the hell of my child feet,

my heart was singed but the fire no longer burned.
I spent my life, a whole life running from demons,
Tripping,
Falling on thorns,
Skin tearing,
Dying to escape the shadows I had been born into.
And then you,
A clear blue river with mosaic sun warmed golden stones,
You stopped me.
My heart was shattered into ruby ashes, black dust.
But you, you took my heart,

what was left,
You held it in your hands.
All pieces held by you.
Each piece an emotional truth.
You showed me all of me,

even her.
She was hiding within the flames,
Living in terror.
The little girl diamond that no fire could destroy.
It glimmered amongst the ruin,

and as your poetic fingers touched it,

my heart seized back to life.
I felt myself, as a little girl,
Rise from the agony.
Growing, mending, vines of love wrapping this heart.
You polished that diamond and put the little girl back in my hand,
And I put her back inside of me, into my heart where she deserves to live.
You showed me these things,

your gentle blue river eyes,

staring into my green ones,

you showed me.
At your touch, I began to glow.
You are the clear blue river,

I am heart stones, green and golden and clear,

flowing with the water of you.