The Shape of Longing

This hollow yearning burns;
Yet brimming, swimming,
Swells with pensive grief.

Strange comfort, to be sure.

No echoing cavern here;
Fluid silence inundates the void,
Flowing curled upon itself;
Smothering slightest breath.

Amorphous osmosis,
Absorption to the point of oblivion,
Passage by permeation.

Sheathed, swathed in mourning,
Slipping through the surface of the skin.

Once inside
Water bright with unshed salt
Cannot refresh, slake or quench.
Deepest dives only exhaust;
Submersion — but no subterfuge

Self-sealing prophecies
Tumbled memories
Smooth as seaglass
Faded iridescence of desire

Shimmering ambitions,
Unfulfilled and unforgotten
Spiral gently deep beneath
Untouched

Withdrawal, weary and subdued;
Sorrow-drenched, and doubt-infused
To shoulder once again this beloved burden
Of misbegotten dreams, deserted and disowned.