woman in the water

by Melody Cui

i see a woman in the water
staring at the horizon as
the sun sets in doused skies,
someone asks what she is looking at,
she says
        something ethereal,
        something she has never seen before,
i wonder if she’s read the Awakening,
because who could resist being consumed
by the vastness of the sea when
the sea is all there is,
i wipe the sand off my feet, lick
the salt from my cheek, i cannot help
but watch her dark back against
the pink of the sky,
        there is peace in the unknown
        there is fear in closed eyes,
she steps forward and drops her hair, i
try to pull her back because
something about her curved back, the
way her legs bend as if they want to give in
tells me she has read it, that she drove
all the way to a red beach with white sand,
so she could find something ethereal,
and hold it in her heart forever,
        I will let go if you do,
        I will let go of it all.