Sabi Khadeeja writes

Fish that swim back

Green that camouflages as blue 

Sketches the skies in its depths.

We, who were born before 

Time, sea and land, 

Swim back as fish into ourselves.

We flow, panting, but 

No one notices that. 

As we swim back 

Like the rushing wind 

Trapped in the depths 

We get wet by the covenants with God 

More than by water. 

We brim over to ourselves 

Along the oceans formed 

By the blending of our wetness.

All the fish are swimming back.

Whirlpools of immeasurable depths 

Like the orbits of fish 

Caught on a fish hook. 

The fish rise from the depths 

Trap us on the hooks 

And return to the depths. 

Travelers on the sea 

Caught in the hooks flung by them 

Swim frantically flailing. 

Whales who guzzle the blue of the blue. 

White water flowers which blossom 

With the somersaulting fish.

All the fish are swimming in reverse. 

They continue to swim 

Till they discover 

The rivers that flow so deep 

Unknown to anyone.

Fishermen shrink in the cold 

Among the roots of the sea tree. 

The nets and fish hooks stand guard 

Over the fish they rear 

In the greenish blue. 

Stars that dream of the fish 

Build pathways to the depths. 

Falling in the water, 

They become star fishes. 

The fish that swim slowly 

Eventually turn into virgins 

And build palaces on the sea bed.

Palaces where we cannot reside.

Always, whenever we look, 

All fish are swimming back, 

Across the flow but 

Not cutting across the water.

They are swimming back 

Though they never reach.

May be it is an impossible task.

Can fish 

Swim back to water 

Until they become water? 

Can we 

Live in the reverse 

Until we become us?

--Tr Ra Sh

 

Les Merveilles de la nature (The Wonders of Nature) -- Rene Magritte