A holy river runs through us - 

the river of life -

With its twists and its turns,

and its banks out of sight.

(early morning misty light

scatter these dregs of the night –

O! the unbidden tears!)

Flotsam and jetsam

of years pass me  by

Swirl in a whirlpool

Float in the sky.

(the azure blue heat-haze sky

of  childhoods all gone by)

Down in the depths,

murky and drear,

Listen to the heartbeats

taste the iron fear....

Swim against the current -

in a tangle of weed - 

stop in a hurry - 

Is that all that we'll need?

floating along at our bull-rush ease

we stare quietly at the sun, 

as we begin slowly to bleed.

It cannot be undone.

* Seppuku (Japanese: 切腹, “cutting [the] belly”), sometimes referred to as harakiri (腹切り, “abdomen/belly cutting”, a native Japanese kun reading), is a form of Japanese ritual suicide by disembowelment.