Leviathan by Amanda Joy

The whale that invented me is dying
The rescuers are unable to rescue him
and resign themselves to allow nature its course
and I wonder at that map
its invisible design where
..............................................we follow
...........,......................................................or are taken

the rocking, lulling eye so small
in the lolling bulk of blubber
too large to thrash, too moored to its own weight
Rolled again and again against the beach
until the flesh is sanded down to pink
the colour of my flesh
a crowd has gathered at the crashing edge to see
what it is to be an animal
..................................................so close to death

Seven tonnes heroically proportioned
If we had met on the water
if he surfaced and I hovered above the waves
would he have accepted me as his
creation or swallowed me as Zeus swallowed Metis

Now though he is dying and so I will not take my lantern
and my packed lunch
.................climb through the balein to the cave of his belly
I will not be reborn through this


Amanda Joy, Australia