Whenever I read your voice
Draped across the tree-tops
In misty strings and fog
its ships sailing.

Wind-whipped sails ripple,
Wave-wake slaps along salt-worn planks,
The smell of ropes and rigging.

The feeling of open skies
And unfathomed depths—
Swirled green, turquoise, black
Sea dragons and sailors,
Treasures, charts, and pirates.

You skip so easily along the tips
And tops of the world.

Horses run across water.
Wars and lovers both rage
As the ground shifts,
Tides bulge and bow, ripping at the shore,
Tectonic plates slip and crumple
Shaking the world's foundation.
It revolves in orbit,
Balanced on the tip of your tongue.

I am cross-legged,
Listening to the way the world is
Watching birds cut the sky
Bleeding onto the clouds
Listening to the creak of your mast
With envy.