Under/Water

For the departed

For Haïti

And in reference to Asako Narahashi’s ‘half wake and half asleep in the water’ (photograph) 2001

…under water,

sinking, eyes

closed, listening

to the voices

the sea, hopeful

not to drown

remembering,

arms wide, mantra:

the body is but water

and salt

…will float up

…sooner or later

…deep under,

sky water,

salt swimming

open

eyes….the ocean murmurs

from the depths

her belly

broken, to jagged shore:

“this time,

I would gladly have taken them

in my womb

for all eternity”

…arms stirring blue light

staying afloat…

listening to waves

drumming eulogy…

…remaining under

as long hold of breath, possible

…in fear of… surfacing

….in fear of …the angry aria

of the nameless dead

riding the gales,

tumbling down

defiled mountains over,

in defense of

wreckage

of hurricanes…

the sheet of sheen above

like ice

to break…

treading water, invisibly, slowly, methodically

…waters embracing

like folds of blankets…

treading the dark, pensively

…what could be the answer

to the riddle

tectonics, shifts…

if movement

could stop time,

turn back

clocks,

tread she would

for seven and a day

…to reach the hour of before,

when an afternoon

of slumber

meant nothing more

than heat, sweat, flies buzzing,

the rooster’s cry, thirst

for the sea

…bracing under….

..descending

to the nether,

to Vilokan, to dance

the dead, the living

gods, our ancestors

….never to utter, “I’m swamped”

….”I’m buried alive”

mindless phrases

swimming

against the ether

….all limbs

intact to brace

against the never

…to be ever…

ever again….

the never

of again…

moving

very slowly…

this

is what the sea sung:

to carry the dead,

as our mothers

carried us,

not to remain

submerged, enfolded

in her layers

pulsing waters

….push…the lullaby

…push, push up…

what remains on shore

is for us all

to bear…

the air, fresh of despair,

the stale hope:

Let us carry

our mothers

as they

have carried us….

Myriam J. A. Chancy

Memorial Day, May 31, 2010