C a d m a l o s y C a h l

complete poetic works


me right next to you, you right next to me


Sitting next to you - 

Here, right next to you -

just to the left of you,

no longer bereft of you,

no cleft now between you and me


No notion why the ocean sigh 

that swells and rides my ships and tides

should here and now release and ease,

now breathing with another breeze


I sense those deeper roots beyond the roots of trees,

the roots of oceans and of cliffs, of tectonic geologies,

the synchronisations beneath the seas, 

the atoms rippling between our knees

our cells singing their symphonies


And the me next to you

and the you next to me

set sail a kind of synergy

where we begin to see as We

here on the changing sea

laughing living learning free


me right next to you,
you right next to me.

where we begin to be as We


- Cadmalos yCahl


It's you I look forward to

There is much I enjoy, much more in which I delight.

 

But truth be told, here in your sight,

to tell it right and be straightforward:

my ship rarely seeks to sail shoreward, 

for there's little to which I look forward -

 

Properly, that is, you see;

the subtle sort of casual wholeheartedly

that a true 'looking forward to' can be,
since with you I yet and cannot be.

 

I hold some hope that may one day become full faith;
a faith that the future will be faire,

a trust that this oasis awaits.

 

So I will myself the willingness I need,

the willingness to wait

for now, for now, for now,
to sense the state of our gait
at some free and future date.

 

For it's you I look forward to.

 

Right now.


Right now.

 

Right now.


If I were you and you were me

If I were you and you were me

we would not be the who we see.

It's easy. Easy!

Collect who you are - here, near, and afar -

and no matter who you are wherewhen you are

You'll be you and I'll be me and teatogether we will be,

all and all three threaded be, by land, by air, by breathing sea. 

You and me as We, living joined, living free. 

   - Cadmalos yCahl 

This timeless poem - one written early in the poet's career - is most known and memed for the first two lines; lines which, interestingly, began in a first draft as the more awkward and spontaneous couplet of "If you were me and I were you, we would not then be who we are." 

Few who quote the well-known first lines are even aware they're part of a poem, let alone know what the words and ideas of that poem go on to suggest.. 

But those who do know, seem to never quite forget...