It be­gins to calm
A con­trast to the land
Harsh and rock-faced
Steep and il­lu­sive
To ig­no­rant eyes. Our eyes, so
We leave water
Leave it to rest in its
Steady move­ment
As we swim in the night’s still­ness
Night bod­ies prepar­ing for waves
To guide us. Waves
To over­come. Waves
To fol­low in vast re­flec­tion,
Per­haps to still­ness

We live for these mo­ments when
Ex­hausted from water
We wel­come land.
Then we re­turn
Once again
Row­ing to­wards shore. Still though
We look back
Al­ways turn­ing to­wards
The next day
Not yet stretched be­fore us
The con­tin­u­a­tion of un­fin­ished strokes
Ceas­ing not in wind bound hours
Nor in our re­turn to land locked days.