Learning to Lifeguard

original version written in April 1996


Even a thousand spirits
All clearly marked "Fragile"
Should each and every one be set down slowly.

No, not always from the air --
At least not this one...

Hurried days spent with another
Wrapped in heart matters
Already held her so near

To the ground --
Leaving only two places to go,
But only one choice really...

So sometimes I feared for her she'd get the bends,
But now I know how to pull her back to the surface carefully
Whenever she ventures too far down --

When she's asleep, I tell her
That her half of the soul
Shared centuries ago, is still

Near its tranquil home
(Where it burrowed its way inside -- Remember?)
That way, I can still get her to laugh and smile sometimes.

Limbo -- That's where she lives now...
I'll keep her there forever if I have to.
I won't let her take any risks, 'cause I love her
Too much.


The original version of this poem was written about my idealization -- or perhaps a better term would be idolization -- of a former 'demigod' of mine named Greg. At the time that I was getting to know him, I was already sixteen-and-a-half years into a nearly eighteen year relationship with my very interesting, but also very human friend Jack. (Since demigods are only our own idealized images projected onto ordinary mortals we meet -- I think that using the possessive term 'mine' fits in with that perfectly. Through 'our' demigods -- those humans that for whatever reason we choose to view through rose colored glasses, we give ourselves -- at least for a time -- "something beautiful" or "something to believe in" when the world seems so self-serving that you just know that "God" was only some space alien kid who created us for one of his/her/its science projects. Since we were subsequently abandoned, I'm guessing that the project didn't get a good grade.)