Come close, I'll keep you safe.
No need to fear.
You've spent too many sleepless nights
Wondering what's there and what's next
The whole world bundled up tight
Close to bursting, packed
Inside that head of yours.
Come here, come close
I'll keep you warm;
A secure embrace.
There's so much out there, little one.
More than any of us can comprehend.
But you're young, aren't you
You try anyway, destined to fail.
Oh, I've been there child
I know your pain, I know
This awful loss you feel.
There's no control for us I fear,
Trapped in the tide coming in and going out
So let me tell you a secret.
We fear it all cause there's too much to know
So, so much, it's not worth trying to grasp it all;
But you can reach out, you can feel some.
Hold a flower, feel the river flowing past
Calm, detached, full of wonder
That's the world too.
And it's okay to be afraid;
And it's okay to seek shelter
From such a great and terrible storm.
The storm is part of us, I think.
Part of our souls, if those exist.
I can feel it, in my heart and in my bones.
The storm comes - the rain of anguish,
Thundering shouts and wicked lightning strikes
And I can feel it in me;
Deep, reflected.
Like all this suffering and fear,
All a part of me too.
And when I was a little older than you,
I slipped down to the sea
at the mouth of a great river
to watch the waves wash against
the sand and stone and concrete;
Feel its coolness against
The tips of my fingers -
So tiny against the backdrop of all.
Oh, I've seen waves so tall they crest sea walls,
Ten metres or more, pushing over,
Covering the land with water,
Salt and air - streets filled with sea.
The ocean is so great and vast
And so weak and small as to slip
Between my fingers on a hot summer day,
When no tide can stop me.
I've lived by seas and by rivers
By ancient fens and ancient flows
Water is all I - all you - are.
What I drink and what I eat
And what I sweat and piss and breathe.
Part of this system so old, so timeless.
And the Earth, well, she precedes us all.
Her tides and molten heart
And Her trees and beasts that
Walk and eat and build.
And before Her, the stars,
Older than we can imagine.
The Earth in all Her majesty,
Just scattered parts of once great wholes;
It, like us all, children of the cosmos.
Nothing but star stuff.
And you feel it, right?
Feel the beingness in your heart -
Aching, consuming, twisting.
It comforts me, anyway.
When all I've said and done is past
When the reaper comes all dressed in black
And holds my hand, so kind
To walk, passing into the abyss
Leaving but my being behind.
That precious thing;
To feed the worms and feed the sun
Once before and now again, dust -
Fragments of the universe.
And that's me out there, part of me
And what comes next, that's me too.
There, shining so bright, millenia away;
All of them, that's me - and you
Each and every star.
Oh child,
See the rain out the window,
Listen to its sounds.
I'll rock you to sleep, don't fret.
You're safe, secure.
Nothing can hurt you here.
