gasp
my mind is sharp like water and my head is screwed on straight
I’m alone.
I stand, deliver
the sand to the shore from the river before the castle falls away.
and fall it may.

...
there are no guarantees, even in this place of peace.  this center of boundless space I return to on my knees nightly to pray.
Knight me, I pray.
Delight me with waves of religious ecstasy
In a daze of prodigious self-reflection I seek the answers to your mystery, Your Majesty.
My King, my Queen,
it’s been my lifelong dream
to prostrate myself before you
and at your whim, receive the greatest of honors a man could hope to achieve:

Freedom from the grave.

...
gasp (I’m coming up for air.)
You surface as someone else, breaking through the shifting skin of the lake that dragonflies alight upon.
You can’t tell their wings from the water, with that iridescent shimmer,
just like you can’t tell a woman’s red lips from your bloody, beating heart.
I’m forgiving Hitler.
I don’t know what else to do, but it’s a start.