Adolescence and beyond

to be an adolescent is like being rolled along under a glacier,

the motion of the diffuse light far above predetermined.

the golden gravel befriended grind upon each other

as the mons veneris rocks of the smooth bottom

caress and release the fingertips of the goodbye times.

the bright fertile sea under the whole sun waits,

even as the open sky’s chill winds hold back the emotion

for an agonising instant.

the berg breaks and floats away.

lifted on the skirts of a wave, abreast the golden spume,

excited by the frisson of the sea race, the cold creep of

adolescence melts. by the time the berg meets its mate 
at the equatorial tropics, the decay has already set in;

as the fruits fall in the family orchard, 

the leaves turn to russet in their sunset.

tears evaporate into the storm and the clouds gather,

to deposit the snows of age upon the upper glacier.
the winter solstice presses, and presses, and

one by one they crystalise.
deep below the journey resumes.