you know

You know

You know how to swim:

surrounded by ages, gray hair, lost lovers, failures,

 blood, poisoned by shallow breathing,

ribs tightened around your heart,

surrounded by others,

younger, more adaptable, faster.

 You know how to dive deeper than most of them,

coldblooded.

You escape the tentacles of depth;

 you rest at the bottom. 

You swallow nitrogen by portions, like medicine,

 rarely crossing the line when it becomes poison.

You know how to synchronize your heartbeats with the environment.

 You know how to surface.

…until the day

when you choose to stay at the ocean floor,

alone.              c: NKO@10/27/2012