The Alphaville Herald

Immersion

by kris on 02/02/09 at 11:36 pm

To sleep, perchance to dream…

by Kris Dibou

The problem with total immersion is that you must come up for air or you will suffocate…

I suppose it is like a sailor being lured into the sea by a beautiful mermaid; he is so enamored with her that he does not realize he is drowning; that he has given up his home and family to follow her into the murky depths of oblivion.  Perhaps at the point of death he will see the mermaid for who she really is and somehow escape her clutches; perhaps not, but if no one escapes, who would start the legends?

The Mermaid

As I sailed over the seas that my forefathers sailed before
I came upon a sea so calm by a green and grassy shore
The water, warm, the sea so blue, I dove and swam about
And rested on a beach bleached white and dined on ocean trout

As the sun set down on the glassy line twixt today and tonight
I watched my sloop drift to and fro in the waning light
And I as well lay on that line between the light and dark
Not sure if I was in a dream or simply deep in thought

I thought I saw a twinkle in the water near my feet
As if a star had tumbled down to taste the water, sweet
And the ocean's daughter from the song called me to her home
Was I there in the depths with her, or was I all alone?

We swam about the current's route without a care or bother
It only briefly occurred to me that I was breathing water
Perhaps it was my nature that forced my dream to stop
My dreamy thoughts that made me shake; I scrambled to the top

Dreams or thoughts, the point was moot for I was out there drowning
If not for the plank afloat nearby there would be no day a'dawning
And I looked back into the water deep and there, below the surface
The creature, fair, was changing form revealing its true purpose

It will not dine, no not today, on wandering seamen lost
For the sea is free flowing 'though the mermaid tries to raise the cost
I will swim in the sea again, but I will never feel the same
Was it my unquenchable thirst, or the mermaid that's to blame.

    ~Kris Dibou