Growing Up with the Ocean

Upon my birth, dark thoughts and
Resignation must have circled me;
A halo on a hairless head,
An angel with no sympathy.

At age five I couldn't have
Foreseen how little things would change.
No, it is the world that's shifted
To a state that's cruelly strange.

As a child I'd scream and cry—
A self-destructive hurricane—
To bring attention to myself
But then, some habits do remain.

A moment in forgotten time,
I'm sure it crashed much like a wave.
The jewelry stung an angry red
And no longer could I be brave.

And nothing changed; no tables turned;
My hands shook as the years went by.
I was lost and then I was found,
And lost in the blink of an eye.

Although I wouldn't trade that time
For anything, why can't you see?
To drink this stupid life again
Would be the very end of me.

The travels of a troubled past
Affect the body that I'm in.
I've brought with me a souvenir:
Passports and postcards on my skin.