Save Our Souls

By Emilee Petersmark

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Lighthouse, light up— Can you see the harbor when

All your thoughts keep you from the shore and out to sea?

Salt stings my lungs, my wounds, my tongue

Won’t keep itself anchored, and when everything matters,

Too bad, it’s a shame. I can’t tell when we started going

Down where it’s too dark to see

And are you scared?

One last prayer before

The storm steals from your body all the beauty I once knew.

Tie this anchor to my

Waist and let the Lorelei take me, take me from you.

Mayday, S.O.S.;

We’re taking on water and there’s a hole in my chest.

I’ll be the chains around your ankles,

I’ll be the ache in your lungs,

I’ll bring you down with this shipwreck if you

Ferry me down.

Sinking, slowly-- Can you see the bottom when

All your thoughts keep you from the oxygen you need?

Is this too much, more than you had bargained for,

Sending our two paper hearts onto the ocean.

Goodbye and so long-- my heart’s capsized and I feel so

Slow motion shutdown for good

And are you scared?

One last prayer before

The storm sends both our bodies to the beaches we both knew.

Tie this anchor to my

Waist and let the Lorelei take me, take me from you.

Mayday, S.O.S.;

We’re taking on water and there’s a hole in my chest.

I’ll be the chains around your ankles,

I’ll be the ache in your lungs,

I’ll bring you down with this shipwreck if you

Let me drown.

Capture your wild senses before

They drive you insane and rudder us to the reef.

Nobly salute, as in some dutiful obligation

To be the ocean stealing sand

From under my feet.

You are the ocean.