Keys to the Maze

    Into the Deep

    2024

    It’s dusky dark down here, and it’s colder
    Below the blinding surface light of day
    It’s endless here and timeless, it’s older
    Beneath the frothing churn and swirling fray
    This is where I marvel at waxing words
    That grow like corals on a rugged reef
    Here my winged thoughts can swoop like bright birds
    And soar on currents swooning blue and deep

    It’s stretched down here and open, it’s tranquil
    Unlike the noisy clang of cluttered lands
    It’s serenely slow here, and it’s thankful
    Not like the stormy seas of grabbing hands
    This is where I revel in siren songs
    That dart like silver fish, that sway and sweep
    Here my spirit searches, it lurks and longs
    To plumb the murky mysteries of the deep

    It’s safe down here and secure, it’s calming
    Beyond the clamouring and cloying crowds
    It’s sacred ground here, and it’s embalming
    Laying the past to rest in healing shrouds
    This is where my shapeshifting shadow rears
    Up like a mythic kraken from its sleep
    Here my psyche faces its furtive fears
    And swims with silent sharks that stalk the deep

    It’s curiously quiet here, and stranger
    Than ordered life on the surface above
    It’s different here, and not without danger
    Yet all the risks are in service of love
    This is where I worship the gods of art
    And witness sculptures dance and paintings speak
    Here my love affairs bud from eye to heart
    As sultry seduction stirs in the deep

    It’s much wilder down here, it’s more freeing
    For the mind can explore farther reaches
    It’s more creative here, there’s more dreaming
    And I hear what inspiration teaches
    This simulacrum of birth and death
    Is an incubator where insights leap
    Where I learn to value my every breath
    Each time I dive to the infinite deep

    — Wayne Visser