Afloat

you keep me afloat
as we drift through choppy knives
of blue-green waters,
the sea-salt stinging like a ray

you hold my numb hand,
thick and calloused at the knuckle,
when our small boat
takes on icy water,
burbling up from a hole in the hull

you promise me, “it will be alright,”
through the forest’s cold night
huddled together around a hissing fire,
the wet wood’s embers bright as a snake’s eye,
our limbs shuddering

you’re a candle in the window
of my cupped hand
a bright flame burning my palm with hope

M.B.B.
6/3/19 (edited 6/10/19)

photo credit: #boatpainting by Raju Kale from Art People