Inviolate soul

inviolate soul
unless we give it away,
but in the end who wants it more than we do,
this soul, spirit, swampland, swirling about us
waiting to be reclaimed, claimed, tossed and claimed again
like waves tossing bottles onto the beach
only to draw them again into her surf
and offer them again and again in an
endless cycle until one day we pick
up the bottle and read what's
inside.