Drowning in this water,
I sink deeper.
Down, down, down.
The air I once breathed:
Absent.
And taking its place:
this cool, clear liquid.
As I fall farther into this
Cold, dark, forgotten
Sea,
My veins fill with ice.
I freeze.

Drifting.
Down, down, down
Into this piercingly bitter
Abyss.
I am solid, like a statue.

But suddenly,
My veins shatter,
My skin cracks.
A million scales form,
Shimmering blue to silver then back again
As the angled light hits them.

I inhale and exhale the salty water
My legs come together
Stuck,
And yet as relaxed as ever.
Like wearing flippers,
I swim purposefully into the dark,
With the ability of rising to the surface,
But the hunger, now, to dive deeper
Than ever before.