sue i side

you should do

that thing you should do

before you told yourself

you shouldn’t

*

i am the umbrella and the rain

and the river that once brought about both

thousands of years ago

waiting for them to come back

tired and crying

from above

hoping for gentle brush of calm reassurance

against the drowning around

*

on every bridge

it should say

jump at own risk

waters have been known to

carry civilization

and birth life

*

there will be a person who incited a fire

in you that will never die

and though you will be burned and consumed

you will at least have a light

when they go away

to the place of your shadow

formed but formless

a shifting of distance

in the darkness of all