Here At Last I Can Be Lonely

[Breton Woman and Haystacks -Emile Bernard]

The sea’s utter lust eats at the shores of my skin.
Here at last I can be lonely.
The sky has spilled all its secrets
And the crabs have gathered them to their caves.
The horizon drags my own secrets out with the tide,
Out beyond the islands
To where the world tapers.
Here I believe the world has an end,
That if I swim out far enough
I’ll plunge with all the fish across the brink
And fall through thickets of stars.
Even the universe, they say, has walls.
Out beyond the twilight’s keeping a door lies open.
I’d like to stand there with my back to all the light,
Looking out,
Then take a step.
-Keith Miller, The Book of Flying