The water was dark and warm under the violet sky.
When I stepped into the sea, washed up plankton spread around me.
They illuminated the water like a blue aurora moving with the current.
I swam on my back and listened to the waves crash against the rocks.

The church glowed gold and I could see the bells, dark and still against the sky.
I imagined them ringing, calling out as I swam against the waves.
Oh Saint Sarah, was that you standing brightly on the church tower?
How many women did you save? How many with child? Was Pauline among them?

There were thin clouds surrounding the church. A summer rain had just passed.
I swam until I could no longer feel the bottom.
Where the jetty ended, I floated—
Submerging myself in the Mediterranean.

I imagined myself on a raft with three others among me.
How blessed to see something, a light, beyond the sea.
And for just a moment, I drifted with the blue dust;
Slowly, making my way back to the church tower once more.