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by Clyde Yoshida
A crazy world.
I’m in a noble profession,
that is plagued without integrity.
It pulls me in directions, this way and that way
as I sink into a sea of gray,
a fathom below the forthright air.
It is dark and tenuous
with prismatic, changing light
that distorts the truth.
The shark patrols to take my heart,
to consume my mind
and chill the flesh.
Escape, elusive above and in my head,
the source of light and air tempts
my lungs and persistent longing
to chart my own course.
A murky silhouette spans the ceiling
above the distant, lucid surface.
It is a bridge that links the fragile heart
from despair- from my missing smile
to the laughter and inner optimist.
That joy makes me recognizable
and signals my arrival like
gulls above the tide.
The sea shall not take me.
My spirit will not walk the plank or mutiny me.
The icy, sunken shipyard will never be my home.
I will out-swim the greedy whirlpool
spiraling to absorb my pure, unsalted soul,
to claim me as wreckage set adrift with no mind of its own.
But I will scrape together these bones
to resurrect the heart and brain.
A half century devoted to obedience
I lament like childhood lost.
The rest of life is thrown to me
like a life preserver
tethered to awesome powers
to restore someone I recognize,
starting with the smile,
my smile.
