Silent Echoes

The sun dissolves beyond the distant horizon; the sky darkens dispelling its sunset hues; bursting out of nowhere a malevolent surge encloses my skiff; the swell lifts it, light as a leaf, upending, sending me crashing into the surf, my arms flailing ineffectually; plunging through the seething foam, my trajectory takes me from twilight into underwater obscurity; I gasp, the cold grasping my chest, salt water filling my mouth, my nostrils; I want to cry out, I hold my breath; I am weightless, drifting; dread rises, perhaps I am drowning but I cannot comprehend my death; drowning, your life passes before you but my mind is blank; all I see is the swirling gloom; my panic subsides, I am not drowning, perhaps I am dead already; in my melancholy a vision of my love appears, smiling as she does when I return home; I wonder if I have been transported, or am I indeed at the gates of heaven; her face blurs in the murk, washed away; I want to cry ‘I’m sorry’ but do not know why; sorry for her fading vision; sorry I will not be coming home; sorry we will not grow old together, sorry, sorry; my arm, thrashing, crashes against the upturned skiff outlined in the twilight; I burst into the air, mouth agape, the waves releasing their grip; I grasp the rudder, heaving myself onto the keel, gulping the salty air; I lie there still, my life restored; the picket gate will creak as I return home, the ‘halloo’ from my love and her welcoming smile; the nascent moon lights my way.