PEARL

sinking
slowly
down
down
five
ten
twenty
fathoms
deep
weightless feeling
cool water wraps its tentacles around me
light slowly dims
bubbles rise to the surface
sounds swell, echo and boom
descending
deeper
down
down
seaweeds brush
a strange-looking wrasse casts a suspicious fish-eye
clown fish play in the arms of a deadly anenome
a startled octopus propels itself through a narrow rocky crevice
i bounce gently on the seabed
with a slight thud
skates skim
seahorses float placidly by
a rusty brown hulk slowly hoves into view
cannons still mounted on its boughs
i peer cautiously inside
broken crockery litters the floor
platters for the ghosts of drowned sailors
i shiver and look away
then i see it
a tiny silver pearl
lying in the open palm of a large clam
i reach down and scoop it up
grasp it tightly in my fist
kick hard
swimming upwards
towards the dim milky light
spreading down
from the surface of the calm water