The Sea of Contemplation

by Craig Shay

There is a kind of hemorrhaging
which happens to a mind
in deep contemplation.

There is that gasping for air desperation,
while in the middle of an aneurism.

There is abandonment of logic
and hastily made decisions,
which will later trouble the soul.

There is rapture,
shaking apart
the sturdy foundations,
where thinkers
are known
to dwell upon.
I see these figures
everywhere,
they are riding
unbridled horses
wielding paper swords.

I see a woman alone
in a parked car on her phone.
A couple in the silent
pause of an argument.
An elderly man gazing
with terror
at the boats in the park.
A shadow sitting on
an empty dock at nightfall.

A cook is smoking a cigarette
behind the restaurant.
He is staring into
vast mountain ranges
of the mind
quaking and crumbling
slowly giving birth to calm
before he flicks his smoke.

All of them, appearing so human.
While digging through
the psyche
for that throbbing
morsel of courage.