THE SHAPE OF WATER
they say Gods do not exist
that if they did they would be untouchable.
I know this not to be true.
They are everywhere
and come in the shapes
of this earth and the next.

Of all the gifts that my god gave me
and for which I am grateful
the power of speech was not one.
From being a little girl I have been silent.

My position at the research labs
of the federal government
is not one of power
I am a cleaner
I pick up messes
wash toilets
And dust the exhibits.

The amphibian man was a God
I know this now.
They had him in chains
trying to find his secrets
They hurt him
and electrocuted him
kept him from his water
that was his home.
Do we always torture our gods
when they visit us.?

My. Silence was his language
I reached to him
and held my hand against his
on the glass of the aquarium
that was his prison.

I fed him as I cleaned the room.
Then when he came from the water
on heavy chains
I held his hand we signed
which is my language
I taught him words and meanings
care... food ..compassion ...and love
and he felt these things for me.

I was the one that heard
his torturers plotting to terminate him
to open up his body
and see what is the difference
between us and him.
I could have told them
what it was,
he had beauty and gentleness.

I think that was when he fell in love with me
no one has ever fallen for me.
I am ordinary
meant to be single
and of course speechless.

What I did not know was
I was falling in love with him
perhaps  meeting of hearts
of two oddities of our separate species.

The escape was easy
no one suspected me
a lowly dumb cleaner.
But I took him out in the laundry cart
I sent out every night.
For weeks I kept him safe
in my little apartment
filling the bathtub with salted water

at last I had someone to care for
someone gentle and kind
someone who did not need
the voice I did not have.
I knew I must set him free
in the oceans where he belonged.
But my heart would break if I let him go.

The real monsters
came looking for him
with guns and there stun guns.
My best friend Dolores from work
phoned they were coming to search my place
I Got him to the harbour by the docks.
But they followed me

The car headlights blinded me
as they fired their weapons .
that when I had been hit
and fell to the ground.

My god lifted me
and dived into the deep waters
I was floating with him
in a lovers dance within the waters.

He was a god
and he healed my wounds
so I  could breathe as he did
under the waters.

Together we left the sadness
of this world and I followed him into his.

Dolores said later

did they fall in love and live happy ever after?
Are they together forever
Living in the domain of the sea.
I like to think so
but
Instead I call upon a poem
Written by lovers hundreds
of years ago.
it says more than my wishes
And defines clearly
What is  love
and the shape of water.

*Unable to perceive the shape of You,
I find You all around me.
Your presence fills my eyes
with Your love,
It humbles my heart,
For You are everywhere