I stretched my neck
until it protested and creaked,
the cars slipping and honking by
As I teetered from a perch up way high.
The silhouette of bodies entwined
caught my eye as I hesitated–paused before I dived.
An androgynous blob embracing under the moonlight,
their shadows vague and disconcerting
reflected in the bleak river water. From my vantage point,
I could see their romantic intent. Trouser socks flung over there,
a cotton button-down discarded over here, I paused once more–
hesitated as they made their way into the water.
Under the silvery-white face of Selene,
the lover’s body’s were svelte and smooth,
their pale legs disappearing into the swallowing black maw.
Each step they took, each laugh and shudder and shriek,
I watched enraptured as the water caressed their
lithe forms, rippling and twinkling,
like water nymphs from myth, gaily strutting their beauty,
their bodies frozen in immortality and sealed by moonlight.
The bed of glossy gray rocks,
twinkling like starlight cannot disrupt the
flow, the course of the tides,
the lovers graceful strides. Seaweed
licking up their arms and legs,
dragging them to the bottom,
clinging like unyielding purple tentacles.
Fingers loosely wrapped around the bars,
a speeding car rattles the metal restraints,
the reckless breeze pushed me, nudged me inches closer–
Within the blink of the eye–
a moment of lapse, a blip in time,
the river devoured the couple whole,
bubbles breaching the center of the river,
burping a gentle, rippling tide
as I closed my eyes and finally allowed myself to fly.
Mecca-Amirah Jackson 