The Aquanaut

The ship sank two survivors on a raft
the Japanese and me.
On the first two days, sharks circled the raft
but they lost interest and disappeared
The Asian man shook my hand and said goodbye
jumped overboard and swam to
the land of the rising sun.
I was rescued by a fishing vessel the next day
thinking the Japanese had drowned didn't
think more about him, till I met him in Tokyo
where he made a living as a swimming instructor.

So down , down ,down he goes smooth and silent
down she goes lungs fresh and clean, no bottom in sight
just he and the night. The thinning light of day.

Down they go with ease. The challenge lies ahead
the music playing slow and sweet.

Minutes are like hours to the unknowing, undisciplined , unwilling.
Baptism lies in the slow pulsing of the heart and the knowing deep within that
pleasure and pain ebbs and dances as down, down, down where under the waves to deep blue nothingness and further still as far as will allows.

How long can you linger and keep your head as you strive to return to amniotic bliss, that
place that echoes with muted sound and muffled voices that held your focus.
not in this world but of it.
unborn aquanaut

So down you go to crushing penance
to blue and cold to the limit and to what end.
to return is unwritten because the ultimate gamble
now the die is cast
to will the last ounce of life from lungs now flat.

To rise to life or remain in stasis
or so it seems
depleted logic dictates that you may well stay
below, beneath the  waves
choose life
arise.