the face of the deep is heavy (Jill Hammer)
“water hides itself like stone
and the face of the deep is heavy”
Job 38:30
1.
the sea says come to the shore of the sea
stand between what you were
and what you are
gills fallen away
parents murdered
mourning the villages of old language
the tide flowing in and out
the breathing of the stars filling the body
saying
God gives
and God takes away
blessed is God’s name
2.
the reef teems
below my feet
but I cannot
swim its currents
salt water in my stomach
bitter
I taste the milk that was my home
and it is suffocation
the sea says
shall we accept good at the hand of God
and not also evil
ask the earth and she will tell you
3.
I will make you a garland of stars
says the sea
because you left me
I will heave up for you
the white skeletons of my children
4.
some wasps mate inside the fig
the male
will never leave
the inside of the fruit
the female will know a moment of air
before she plunges
into another inner seed
God gives, she says
her mouth full of sweet fig
God takes away
5.
and have you come to the source of the sea
or walked in the cracks of the deep?
have you known the gates of death?
many times I have stood before them
it is written in the Talmud
the gates of return are always open
we come to them and cannot forget them
the rain falling into the sea
the blessing over death
6.
the tide coming in says
God gives
and the tide going out says
God takes away
(the land says the opposite)
7.
the foot of the conch grasps in the deep
the chambers of the nautilus dream
each one alone and separate
the salt restless in the water
in the coral reef of evening
in the bed of thick darkness
I walk the staircase of loneliness
up to the stars
my love sleeps
but I am awake
8.
I give nothing
says my soul curled up in the night
I take away nothing
my soul does not know what is true
that we build our lives on the crushed shells of life
that our breath like gnats
will fly into other mouths
that the waters in us dream of return to the deep
but the sea knows
more water wisdom
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