Slack Water

What makes the seashell sound like the ocean?
What makes the ocean sound like a shell?
What makes the salt burn?
What makes the tide turn?
What made Isaac Newton interested at all?
I find where I am through dead reckoning
In the slack water I wait; like a rag doll I wait
In the currents I’m ripped into shreds
Into buttons and thread
Into stuffing and fragments
What puts the carriage in front of the horses?
What puts the horses in front of the cart?
Why does the mind race?
Why does the heart break?
How does the chase make tomorrow too late?
I know where you are, hiding in the rocks
Staring at nothing; weathering away
In the slack water you wait; like a rag doll you wait
In the currents you’re ripped into shreds
Into buttons and thread
Into stuffing and fragments
What holds you together
What holds you apart
In the slack water I wait, I wait