Unwinding

Before the slow unwinding 

Before the waves that never seemed to break

Spilled out and swallowed us whole

To see you was to become overcome with joy

It was to have the ferris wheel 

Go round and round endlessly 

It was to have seen fairies and unicorns 

and all that silly nonsense that was 

But could not possibly be

It was to not even believe in extinguishment 

But now, after we have become 

Ancient, and tired of our affair

I learn breathing 

In and out and in 

I learn the beats of the pain 

The way it clenches, the way it sprawls

The way it makes everything seem 

So embarassingly difficult,

So hopelessly mundane 

It it to look at the sea and know it is coming

Yet be shaken unsteady, still widen your eyes

And say 'I never expected that at all'