BOUNDARIES - Digna Sinke

text

Boundaries

The boundaries of my garden

My territory

Outside it: the others

The rest of the world

 

Inside it: order

My order

 

I don’t decide if silver drops should be on the leaves

I don’t decide how much rain will fall

I don’t decide when seeds will germinate

I don’t decide where pimpernel comes up, or chickweed, or nipplewort, or saltbush

But I do interfere

I take my hoe and cut away the weeds

Or sometimes I don’t

Let it go, I think, let it go.

 

Each leaf is bounded by itself.

The boundaries of the leaf

The boundaries of the flower

The boundaries of the hedge

 

The boundaries of earth and sky

 

The boundaries of light and dark

The boundaries of night and day

 

The boundaries of land and water

The boundaries of water and sky

The boundaries of light and dark

The boundaries of the shadows

The boundlessness without shadows

 

The boundaries of my body

 

The boundaries of day

The boundaries of night

 

The longing to stay in the light

To the lighthouse, to the lighthouse

 

Some things I would not dare write down even in my little diary

and I would not dare read out what I do write down.

 

Rare moments of surrender

Let it go, let it go

 

Touching your body

My tongue across your skin

Licking the salt from it

Cuddling up to you

 

Boundaries in time

Let it go, let it go

Markers

Past

But not inside

Not inside my head.

 

Unbearable longing for what I cannot name

Must not, dare not, cannot.

 

The boundaries of the leaves

The boundaries of the light

 

The boundaries of my body

The boundaries of my inner world.

 

Chained inside myself

Locked inside my boundaries.

Nothing changed.

Nothing learned.

 

And somewhere hidden inside

The flying out, to the light, to the light

But only inside

Never outside.

I don’t say what I think

I don’t say what I feel

 

The words for it are impossible

 

The boundaries aren’t crossed

The order remains

Chaos only deep inside.

Embrace the chaos.

Embrace the darkness.