Tracing the contour of a paper sea Mapping the current where I meant to be Graphite and ivory scratching on the sheet Charting out a harbor I will never meet Not a mile traveled, not a fathom gained Just a phantom journey that my fear maintained Brass dividers stepping out a heavy tread Across the blank horizon of the life I fled Thirty winter seasons staring at the draft Dreaming of the water and a steady raft Watching all the ink dry along the seam Drowning in the middle of a paper dream Plotted The Vector, Penciled The Line! Tracing A Destiny That Never Was Mine! The Chart Shows An Ocean, The Boots Hit The Floor! Pacing The Wood By The Heavy Front Door! Knowing The Angle, Missing The Tide! Dead Reckoning With The Panic Inside! ...Check that latitude... Magnetic needle trembling in the glass Watching another gray meridian pass Tallying the crosswind, noting down the drift Waiting for a heavy fog to finally lift Master of the transit, expert of the chart Failing the logistics of a frightened heart Harbor mist condensing on the window pane Running out the numbers of a phantom rain Thirty winter seasons staring at the draft Dreaming of the water and a steady raft Watching all the ink dry along the seam Drowning in the middle of a paper dream Plotted The Vector, Penciled The Line! Tracing A Destiny That Never Was Mine! The Chart Shows An Ocean, The Boots Hit The Floor! Pacing The Wood By The Heavy Front Door! Knowing The Angle, Missing The Tide! Dead Reckoning With The Panic Inside! ...Check that latitude... No ship in the harbor. No wind in the sheet. Just the heavy silence of a quiet retreat. Measured to the fraction. Drawn without a flaw. The bravest expedition that the room ever saw. Put down the compass. Turn down the lamp. Staring at the paper growing bitter and damp. Plotted The Vector, Penciled The Line! Tracing A Destiny That Never Was Mine! The Chart Shows An Ocean, The Boots Hit The Floor! Pacing The Wood By The Heavy Front Door! Knowing The Angle, Missing The Tide! Dead Reckoning With The Panic Inside! ...Check that latitude... Dead reckoning... Vector clear... Trip the catch... Zero motion tonight.
