We build bridges to cross trenches;
trouble, treachery, tyranny,
to cut across life’s inconveniences;
cuts and cries and crisis,
we cross bridges to build beliefs;
I will, I wish, I want,
discarding ties and loves deceased;
I lost, I left, I let go,
holding out for a life that’s better;
bolder, bigger, brighter,
hoping now for love that’s righter;
safer, surer, stronger.

I want to wade into the water,
want the waves to push me harder,
I want to catch the crush of the current,
to fight to find the will, the warrant,
to comprehend the deepest parts,
the push, the pull, the hurt, the hearts,
to understand the fuss, the force,
to know how the river finds it course.

Darker, steeper, deeper,
the longing to linger longer.

All words and photographs by Damien B. Donnelly