Do Not Run From Your Poet Self
or No One Really Has To Know The Whole Story
~ for Billy Collins
do not fear your poet self
when you discover him under your life boat hiding
do not punish him like a pathetic stow away
what he has to say
will not throw you overboard
he is you as much as you are he
do not say who is that
that writes this
I do not know him
no matter what he says
it will not hurt for long
just a little pinch
like a doctor giving a shot
his words will heal you in the end
it will hurt him more than it hurts you
he will not preserve your pain
only hold it up shining to the night
like a broken sexton
after a while you will be released from your agony
you will be left at peace and adrift
in a small boat now all your own
you will have clean water and food for your mind
perhaps a wooden oar or a golden sail full of wind if you wish
and a map just in case you are ever lost here again
never call it mutiny
or torture the words that swirl in his wake
as he slips beneath the waves hoarse from screaming
for it was he who spoke up when you bobbed
and wretched your way across the lonely sea
and you know you will need his help again
