RNAL#5 (1/06) - The Gunnery

UntitledOcean deep, is what they sayYet it only travels so far underneathGrowing cold as it sinksNumbness protects your fetal strengthThe blindness of a softer glareWhat you’ve seen was picked in advanceAnd filtered through, illuminated hairBeing young it’s easy to seeThe surface appears brightAnd waves friendlySplinters of light play across the surfaceAs they did upon her eyesThe familiar flow reflectsThe face impossible not to knowFrom the Caribbean, Baltic and Bering SeaYou search for the shades to matchRising off your mindTraveling from years far behindTheir skin was soft, tasted of saltLike an old pebble on the shoreTo be slowly washed out to seaDesperate on the ocean floorSomeday pulled back by the persuading currentAnd dried out on the warm sandAs the tide runs out(Perry Costello, 2006)English Journal 5 (January 2006) 25