Grace

Large bulky manatee

Throwing her weight around

Like a sumo wrestler

Not fighting but asserting

Her body mass wherever

She wants to be

Seeing myself in this beautiful

Mournful manatee, floating

In deep waters, visiting other

Beings in their grief

I do not know what sounds she makes

Maybe a soothing song, like a whale

Communicating with otherworldly beings

Who rise up from beneath the ocean’s floor

To greet her and me once again

In this dance of life and love

(And sometimes horror)

These transcendent beings circle

Sharing our connective waves

And particles, joining each other in

The deep wells of the sea

As I rise back up to more familiar

Surroundings, I realize that

Grace has touched me once again

Lifting me high up into

Clearer and clearer waters

Leaving the murky, dark

Deep behind

For a time