when you seek and do not find
a welcome committee among the worms,

when you seek and do not find;
when skin-surface nerves betray suggestive eye
over dirt-beds no "comfort" to lie and rot upon —
to stop-slash-to rot with shared harsh, hollowed O

when you seek and do not find;
when skin-surface nerves betray suggestive eye;
you'll find — though will not seek —

to scrub-slash-anoint under piscean seas:
welcoming waves with a current to swim upon,
submerge skin-surface to then affirm the eye