Can It Be?

Can there be so many arms

raised up as if in prayer?

one almond sun saying goodbye

and the sun is a stop sign-entry prohibited

for so many raised faces leaving the promised land

so many promises forgotten and broken

And can it be that the water is violet

so silky and mauve? A magenta dream something to drink

there is a story in these boats and a sigh that blows the travelers

to an unspeakable destiny the fervent desire that drives them on.

Can it be those death vessels are filled with children and a hope so

vague that the sea is the promise land now?

And would it be that the sea will change

and something watery and wild will take over

and people lost to their desires will find a horizon where they can rest?

And could it be that the Straights so narrow and fine

Can take a boat under and mull it around

spitting it out like a mulched old tree.

That turbulent boundary that divides hope from despair

There's life on the other side

for those who make it.