If all I am's the landlord's daughter
High up in my room
Then you're the lonely Highwayman
That rides beneath the moon

Though, unlike Bess, the little death
I sought did not bring end
Not to our lives, but to our dreams
That rose so to descend.

My sacrifice was not my life
Lost somewhere in the dark
My method then of saving you
Was severing us apart.

For one to live a fuller life
The other must endure
A subdued sadness veiled beneath
Another’s cruel censure.


To keep you safe, I’ll bow my head
And watch on past your form
Knock on another’s doleful Inn
This Bess won’t cause you harm.

Ride on, my precious Highwayman
There’s nothing here for you
Your treasure lies beyond this Inn
A path you must see through.

****** against the cliff
caught in a vortex  
whirlpool of relentless force
pulling me down, down, down
Sound...deafening
Obliterating all sense of direction

I succomb to the waves
****** out, pulled in.
Riptide determined to
pull me under
spared by the mercy
of an upper current that
carries me weightless out and
over the break

Impelled by Grace
greater than the Power at hand
My body finds the sand.
I lie upon the beach,
all fight left behind.
The Ocean claims my strength
No question who has won**

Copyright © 2015 Christi Michaels.
All Rights Reserved.

Through the obscure woodland,
Under the path shown by starry sky,
Over the hillock of misery,
Finally standing on the mountaintop high above.
Staying there forever
Is impossible,
And without the rough ascent
Unreachable,
Tumbling back down
Is inescapable,
Being ready for it, though,
Is sensible,
And not remaining down there defeated,
Is reasonable.