Surrender to the Tides

She drifts between silence and breath,
choking in the veins of the earth —
or perhaps only this way
she truly breathes for a moment,
pure oxygen within shimmering waters.

Each inhale melts into the current,
and the current dissolves back into her.
She neither drowns nor floats —
she is part of the tide itself.

She no longer fights the waves,
but yields to the endless horizon —
and only in that surrender
is she truly saved.

She grows gills in her palms
to dive into the wreck of memory,
quiet between heartbeats,
resting beneath the water.