Poem Written Underwater

Strange to be swimming in my favorite blue dress
the skirt billowing slowly around me
an odd fish to say the least

Deep in the liquid atmosphere and breathing well
no struggling for the old oxygen
that used to keep me

Death, I have feared lifelong my own drowning
and I wonder now why so much
now new inhaling preserves me

I’ll not walk on dirty sand this afternoon, laughing
mirrored back in a lover’s eyes
My reflection extinguished

I’m not gulping and crying for rescuing hands
They reach, I push away, not to be reached
I’m choosing the deep this time