I am ready to swim —
ready to dive in, to feel warm
then cold getting out — so I won’t
get out — will stay in until
I am exhausted and failing to climb out
I will sink and eventually take in
water, not air; then I will be

ready to sleep. I am ready
to sleep now, to doze in the lap
of my daily life; no longer breathing
air I will snore water, will slumber
without dream or care in this world
until I come up for one good gulp
of the one good air all around us; then
I will be

ready to die, to release the water
finally and learn what the final fall
is like, say ahhhh and then let it go
too, invisible medium
keeping us here until we go
by violence or sickness or accident
or simply wearing out and leaving
for the next reality or for nothing,
nothing at all; then I will be

ready to live like a toreador,
a picador — no matador here,
friends; just one of the untreasured
who are discarded upon becoming
used up and, reaching that point
are mourned by few;
I am ready for that living
knowing I have already lived well
and dramatically finished to be left
forgotten by the masses, brushing dirt
off, alive again, silent; ready
for whatever comes.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
onward,
T