The Whale

I sense it.

Floating on my back

I feel movement;

a shaking in the sea,

ripples revealing a

glistening gray head,

my body

swept into the beast’s berth,

the ocean’s suffocating arms

drag me underneath

the stomach

of the biggest animal in the world.

Every cell

salty, stinging, aching,

I can’t breathe,

I can’t

breathe.

I’m going deeper,

my ears pop,

my eyes burn,

my lungs beg.

I thrash and grasp,

reaching for oxygen above,

yet I only feel pushed

farther into the deep.

my body prays

to get to the surface or

die.

my mind goes misty

the moment approaches

to feel nothing anymore,

my soul

rising to the sky

my body

sinking to the bottom,

there is nothing I can do

but yield

to the fate that's captured me.

Around all is pitch

and cold, weightless

I relax

It may be my last time,

I’ll flow in these waters for

the rest of existence.

I shall accept this.

but

wait

there’s a

slight

warmth

above

could I be

floating

no fate today,

I think I might

live,

my hands

seek the sky

my head

presses into air

my lungs are filled

filled

filled with

life

I can’t get enough,

I can breathe

I can

breathe.

I am here,

coughing my way back

into my body,

my ocean water eyes

see

The Whale

tail descending into the sea,

even through

moribund mind,

I am astounded.

I quiver from

sudden vibrations

pulsing through cold legs

to my stomach,

into my heartspace

a hum

a moaning

a Whaling.

Instinct pleads

to stay above water,

but something stronger

pulls me under,

I hear through

the ocean’s murmuring,

a hymn reverberates

reaches into my spirit,

eerie and yet

soothing.

It sings understanding

of death and life,

and the rhythms of

goodbye

as its calls

further sink

into the ocean.

I resurface,

weak but awakened,

but with strength to swim

the Whale’s song

a tale to tell

when I make it back

to land.