Meditation on Vulnerability

by Dean Rader

My son in his sleep slips
into the little boat of his dream

the waves he lets them
carry the boy of him

that he once was
into the darkness

of the darkest ocean
silent sailor of the self

who waits in the water
below you beaten

by salt and sea-thrash
ashen in the night

swim of the body’s blue
bowing how do we know

we are alive if we don’t
drown if we don’t

dive down into the last lost
listing ship that is this life

Published on April 23, 2020