Speak Plainly Now

I’m tired of metaphor
Speak plainly! Or else
get lost at sea
It may make no difference
but I have vanity and
cannot act insincere around it

I am lost at sea
clumsily using beautiful words
as a raft
I don’t want to sink
These words are chum though
and there are beasts ready

I’m lost and it’s cold
and the metaphors used
for warmth and safety
are not compass nor astrolabe
If I sink, my broken sincerity
will sink too

The words are heavy but buoyant
They need to glisten in sunlight
They are plain now,
as they all should have been
This raft is bare but may yet
stay afloat

Speak plainly now,
for we are here
each on small rafts
waiting for daybreak
or a wave, or a beast
We tire, we sink