We wanted to see the animals
transformed where the surface
deepens. Naked, we wade
towards jellyfish ink black
phosphorescence in the night
of the ocean spilling.
We swim over dead fish
devoured by smaller organisms,
microbes and bacteria
we cannot see, so far beneath
the surface, layering.
We don’t know what kind
of darkness surrounds us.
We want to see darker
into the darkness we are
deepening. We try
to keep swimming.
Each of us
also a tiny darkness.
Our eyes closed
as we dive deeper
within the midnight zone.
Almost imperceptible,
we think, how through death
it continues to survive.
A tendril wraps
around a leg. A wisp winds
around my finger.
One of us looks away,
to laugh. The rain touches
the ocean so lightly,
the lightning,
quiet as a scalpel.