where the damage is undone

Forget flight. In the best dreams,

I breathe under water,

and the light reaches all the way down:

clear, crisp, bright,

icy as the lung-filling gasp

before the year's first snow.

The fabric tangled at my knees

does nothing to slow me;

the ship's belly above,

a guardian.

The fish land on my shoulders, my wrists,

crown my hair

like butterflies.

The coral glows, unblighted.

Here, nothing I touch

turns to oily ash or rot;

my benevolent boat

is just a passing shadow.

I frighten nothing

but the enemies of water.

This poem was written and submitted for the Full Moon challenge on Vocal Media.