Your ankles dangle in the water
held fast by the passage of time
kicking hard against the ripples
the future carving saintly lines
Forgotten pride pulls your skin
flakes off as age wears you down
to drift there among them corpses
the sacred deeds and the sorry drowned
Weighed down by a thousand links
feathered chains stretch you thin
marking time with beauty failing
your eyes sink deep into borrowed skin