Isle of Venus

I opened my eyes wider underwater,
as I marvelled at the ease withwhich my heart accepted it's fate;
 the miracle of  my tar-filled lungs 
avoiding imminent collapsion.
Aquamarine seaweed entangled in my dark hair
and lazy fingers beat them away,
Unlike Life,
I would not allow myself to be defiled
in Death.

Such had been existence on the Isles of Venus.
I was tired of witnessing the dishevelled women,
aimlessly wandering the
 the sandy shores of Hollow Promise,
armed with broken blue clocks
that told time right twice a day.
And tattered maps marked with X.

They kept digging with their broken nails,
at the juncture where the sea kissed the land,
but the only jewels uncovered
were purple shells and a blonde hair-strand.
I was determined not to be left behind this time
and unthinking jumped clear of the Reef of Grief
that had always kept us women captive
with the unspoken carrot of belief.

Here I was, free at last,
From the land of the living,
the land of Men.
the Sea had been my saviour,
Why then do they call it my end?
 For here in the water grave,
my unborn child and I will sleep.
Unfettered of the promises,
all the Men could not keep.