Whiskers

Whiskers

My wetsuit clings to my body like mermaid-scales,

As I enter the water it feels surprisingly bereft of temperature

I thought I'd feel cold but this second skin is absorbing my senses;

Maybe this is how they feel when they enter the water too?

Their heads bob to the surface in curiosity

At ours doing likewise,

As my young daughters peer at us all in awe from the rib.

My mask on securely

I lower my face into the water and see the wonders beneath -

As another world opens out before me like some vast beautiful green flower.

The mask feels alien, like an octopus

With suckers over my nose and mouth.

A tube with which to breathe above the surface from below, bubbles -

"Don't suck the water in" the instructor reminds us,

"Keep your head above the water and gradually descend";

It is in this descent that freedom lies -

To breathe underwater with them,

Share the same space,

Face to face,

No mask for them just whiskers.

Puppy-dog eyes on your seal-pup face

So close, so close,

A rush from my heart, I move aside

And forget not to suck in the gasp

As salt-water fills my mouth.

I hang in the water mimicking the forest of kelp around me

The tube above the surface once more,

Watching you turn gracefully to come back around

And swim with me again;

To rise through my feet to my belly

Swiftly ascending to cross my chest now,

Our hearts are just a heartbeat away.

Mottled grey skin touches wetsuit-skin

And we are one.

In our embrace you pour your innocent essence into my soul's vessel

To sail with me forever,

Filling me with Attenborough-esque magic.

It is in this connection,

As your whiskers brush against my masked face

That you seem to say "breathe...remember to breathe".

I learn from you

And in my deepest moments of depression

Remember our encounter;

You were there, so close,

Swimming into my psyche I'm now part-selkie -

Your big round eyes mirroring our deep

Reciprocal need,

To save each other

From drowning.

A Wensley

9.05.2026

Produced at today's Jawbone Workshop 'Personal Mythologies' with Rebecca Danicic