Have you ever swam in the sea at night
alone in winter
when a tear runs down the length of your naked body
it is like a retreating tide
your skin the bare shore,
goosebumps are pebbles
strewn by rough waves
across navigating limbs

When you float in the sea at night
do you whisper your salty soliloquy to the sky
do your lips cast their lone pearl
to obsidian depths,
your last gift of fragility

Are you free
when you meet the sea at night
or are the gulls the gatekeepers
to a realm suspended in ripple,
deep ocean belly gurgling its briney aria
you are a shallow choir
sinking into solitary song
adrift in murky meditation,
Do you wait to be greeted
Or taken

Have you ever swam in the sea at night
alone in winter
clinging to the water’s frost
the chill anchors you to this world
vapoured breath beckons to be pulled under,
clouds ebb against current’s flow
and for a moment
you can see the stars