The sands like shifting plates recede

Into the sea, beneath my body

Tinting each wave with mahogany wine

As my limbs sink six feet deep

If I should keep my peace of mind

Any moment I shall drift asleep—

If I lay down, if I just stay still

Perhaps a billow will swallow me

Just as the moon digests the distant sky

Corked beached bottles drown my eyes

That read through tinted glass the writing

On the walls in the face staring back:

For try as I might with all this flesh

To part the shards to see the stars

What remains of me are but mere bones

Made leaden in the swells and time