Stretch

The ocean has admitted to me
that she would be deeper if she could,
and that the mountains
aspire to be clouds.

She said that the peaks
had dipped their fingertips in snow,
some of which they'd stroked from the sky;
she said it helps them feel taller,
with a peachfuzz cape
ornamenting their shoulders.

And she said that she has made
an unholy bargain
with the rolling lava
beneath her bed;
it can touch her toes
and she can discover what it feels like
to be dry.

I asked the ocean why she would do such a thing.

She said,
"I want to be something more."