Deep Sea Diver
You
cannot see all the way to the top,
through all the cloudy green water;
the lengthy hose, connected behind
your sight, is your only recourse . . .
what if death came down the hose?
Cool and slow, a snake of a joke,
to you who stands planted in sand
all the way at the bottom, alone.
Someday it will, but now help
only comes down: air, without
the punchline snake, and you feel
as though the fellow mariners up
there have your best interests in
mind; and they do, they do, even
on the day they send the snake down
and pull you back, all the way up.
The 2River View, 4.2 (Winter 2000)