Trench

by Paul Bavister

As gannets crashed, sea lions snapped
and fish formed a surging ball to protect
themselves, until all that was left was
a shimmer of scales drifting down
through twilight, to the still cold
and the glowing bait of angler fish.
Crabs patrolled fluorescent coral
and softened bones and in that silence
I finally felt the hurt I’d caused and heard
your voice as if for the first time
telling me where I went wrong
and giving me a chance to change.
I rose up slowly through the twilight
and for the first time in decades
I was on the surface being swept
along by sunlit waves towards
the island I thought I’d never see again.

Paul Bavister has published three collections of poetry with Two Rivers Press. His work has appeared in Confluence, Dream Catcher and Smoke. Starlings came highly commended in the Rialto poetry competition.