I am still tasting the salt
From my deep swallows
Lying breathless
From depths thrust
Into my lungs
When the storm began
I found the one man
Floating on paddles
And approaching in pulses
Little toy boats
Sinking in still underwater
My mother and father
Lost at sea
My family
The bubbles lifting my face
In between breaks
Gasping to see
The savior to be
Reaching for me
Leaning
But when the weight set in
And he gave me a tug
The wind and rain bullied us
We tumbled
Watching oars float away
Fighting to save
The same
Selfish mistakes
Of every man for himself
I sank to the shells
The debris and me
Alone in the sea
And as I turned to the moon
My hair floats in tune
With the subtle ocean pulse
My eyes thick with the salts
I saw my fault
Saw what I saw
The last time I sank
His feet kicked to the shore
The waves held their course
And my savior no more
But with coral
His hands with the reef
My hands with me
Confused and still
Wheeze and fill
With my surrounds
My all arounds
Gathered the deepest breath from me
I could get from the deep
And feel deep asleep
I wake
With the waves
The sun in my face
And sand on my legs
The man who saved
His own life at sea
Not near me
But footprints
Like kicks
To the chest
Left to suggest
He was never around
To dry my face
And stay
Until wake
So the clouds roll away
I rise to my legs
And endure my next swim
Straight out to him
In whatever hellish storm
He has come to call normal
Never stopping for air
But only to stare
Blinded by the sun
Setting the horizon
On fire
And waving at me
Direct from point B
Promising
An opposite shore.
