The Pitcher and the River
By Christian Martinez
How I longed for love
A pitcher of endless water
Trying to find some sort of vessel
To fill a void in itself by pouring out into voids.
A pitcher of endless water
Trying to find some sort of vessel
After years of pouring out into sand
And soil, and cracked glass.
Trying to find some sort of vessel
When all it wanted was the river
Something to pour into and to dip into and for once be filled
To receive water for once.
But to desire the river!
As a pitcher
Something so much larger and grander than itself
The hubris!!
The longing!!
The delusion!!
But that’s all we want isn’t it?
The river, a river
To step into it
And step out
And it not be the same river
Nor he the same man.
To pour into it ounce by ounce
And imagine its destiny – the ocean
To be filled ounce by ounce
To feel destined
To feel like the ocean
To love and be loved.
A bottomless pitcher
Who has sowed levees
Who dreams to receive a river
To, for once, be filled and heavy.
To love and be loved.
The Trinity Review 