Sink or Rise

Gull-strewn waters lap
     circumferences of each reflected
          shadow   rising    falling   as if
               a slow & stuttering final breath
                    of the fabled city conceding elemental 

defeat or a willing acceptance
     as the child standing against
               the damp wall, skirt the color
                    of wet mosses clawing upward
                         clambering the tower of paired bells

tolling the dirge, the sullen gondola
     that nudges its striated pole leaning
          precariously toward the while
               pleading for something solid 
                    to believe in.