forty seconds of quiet. of nothing
but the thrumming of a too-big heart—
the sloshing of water up against
his moonless cavern. forty seconds
of a panic that subdues as fast as it came,
of peace unlike any other. past mistakes
and forgotten hopes, futile dreams
and desperate prayers.
silent wishes drowned out by the slow
suffocation of death. forty seconds,
then the gates are opened, the
flood widens, the space becomes
expansive, and the quiet peace of it
all is pulled under the current.