—Anonymous Photo
MESSAGE IN A BOTTLE
—Nick LeForce, Sacramento, CA
Never ask a poet for advice
unless you are willing to tolerate ambiguity
because a poet speaks in more than meaning,
wraps words in rhythms, sounds in sensations;
giving you, instead, a message in a bottle
tossed in the sea from a distant shore,
written in a code you must crack
and filled with the fragments of a map
that may just lead you to the treasure
your heart most desires;
it’s a code you can only crack
when you are willing to love life
with all its longing and let down,
its empty passions and broken promises,
its endless tomorrows flowing into today;
and a treasure you can only claim
when you are willing to embrace
the struggles that make you strong,
to fight the battles that make you brave,
to show the weakness that inspires your wisdom;
all acts of courage no advice can contain;
and the poet will tell you,
“don’t bottle your dreams,
don’t let them drift to other shores,”
because dreams are seeds and precious things,
they do no good held in the hand,
they need the land and the love
of one who knows that the seed
looks nothing like the tree it will become.
(prev. pub. in Heaven in Our Hearts by Nick LeForce)
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—Medusa, with thanks to Nick LeForce for today’s fine poem! For more from Nick, see www.nickleforce.com.