Was it Beautiful

Was it beautiful? I wonder

Did it bring you one last moment of joy? I ask

Or at least a parting sense of peace? I hope

When the sun’s light penetrated the surface,

When golden rays tumbled gently through the water —

Innocent, innocuous, unaware of what was happening to you,

Unable to rescue you,

As you struggled beneath the waves

As you held the last of your precious breath in those full lungs

Knowing these were your final moments?

Did it bring you any solace

Any comfort

To see the healing light of an ordinary day

Gently cascading down to meet you

At the dreaded bottom-of-no-return?

——-

In that moment

As your body and mind had no choice but to surrender to the water

And the unforgiving laws of nature,

I pray you found some semblance of hope amid the resignation

I want to believe your panic turned to serenity

I like to think that, although you were alone and falling deeper into death’s grasp,

In those last seconds,

You saw the light

And were consoled

And all fear was released

As you faded away

And strangely, I like to imagine that,

Though you were sunken and beyond the earthly realm,

Your lifeless body suspended in time,

Drifting aimlessly at the currents’ indifferent whims…

You still saw the light one last time

And it somehow strengthened you,

Lifted you, perhaps,

Through the oppressing, heavy water

More quickly, more directly, more expressly

To Heaven’s gates and eternal rest

——-

So confounding

How a simple dapple of light,

From the other side of the universe,

Can dip down, through space and clouds and stratosphere, to the infinitesimal human level

In our hour of need

In the fight of our lives

In the darkest, most despairing of episodes,

And unknowingly bring beauty

Even while mingling with death

——-

I’m grateful for the light

Though it didn’t save you

It was there for you

It reached you

And brought your soul

To life again