Gray sea, gray sky

Margins smudged

in all directions

Stretched & stretching

Unbroken & unchanged

but for the smooth fold

& roll of white-capped

wavelets…

Then, movement –

countless pale shapes

schooled & swimming

beneath the gray sea’s

surface in synchronicity

Arms flush to lean torsos,

legs at knees & ankles

clamped, pressed

as though fused…

Their bodies part water

with inhuman, ghostly

grace

No need to surface…

No trail of bubbles

to mark their silent

passage…

Blind & Deaf & Mute

They are the swimming

Dead…

My own eyes sting

     my tongue tastes salt

          my ears pulse, throb

And then, release…

Within their company,

freed from bodily limits

& swimming…

     swimming…

          swimming

endlessly…

— C.Birde, 6/21