A Wake

They didn't say anything,
just stood and stared
as I floated.

I turned my back, trying to find
the horizon between the slanted
sunlight and the white brick dome.

Inch by inch, I crawled through
frozen water. Beneath the sheen
dark bodies swam and dove

towards the infinite floor.
My legs were numb and my hands
locked firm

onto the gaping flesh
of my sides. I remembered the song
my grandmother used to sing me

when the winds were strong.
"Take the branch and take the bones,
take the fur and bring it home

When the stars fall down to earth
When the moon reveals its birth
We roam, we roam, we roam."