one of the more disconsolate details of history,
in my opinion,
is the fact that a band was playing
and fireworks were going off
as the Titanic sunk.
and I believe that the fact that
the band kept playing
until, literally, the very end,
is one of the most heroic things
that anybody has ever done.
I guess it is just another example
of the miracle of human nature
and how we are taught
to always force a smile
even when well-aware that we are
truly, royally
fucked.
and it's sad how
it has always been so easy for us
to mistake calamities
for mere trivialities.
apparently,
disillusion is supposed to
trump terror every time,
and, in many cases, this is so.
ignorance is, after all, bliss.
because nobody told anybody
that if you were
lower-class, middle-aged, and male,
you were the most fucked of all.
the scariest part was that
you had to find out on your own,
when it was already way too late.
because the water was freezing
but it looked so damn beautiful
under the failing lights of the ship
and all those stars.
I know how easy it is
to feel like you're sinking sometimes
in crowded hallways and loud restaurants--
bathrooms at parties and
the rooftops of apartment buildings.
your own room, maybe.
but I want you to know
that the way I feel about you is colossal--
titanic, even, one might say.
and if you ever
feel yourself slipping again,
downwards into that
familiar icy black water,
I'll send the whole fucking coast guard
and then some
to pull you back to the surface
and all the way to shore
where I will hold you and never let go.
