BUOYANCY

By R. H. Henry

Nearly smooth waters with hardly a swirl,

Reflect almost perfectly the quarter moon

But the murky dark waters are deep

The current below swifter than the surface divulges

Lungs filled with the river, the body sinks to the bed

Fitfully dragged by the flow downstream

Hands, feet, and face stir up the silt

Catching here and there on branch and rock and dross

But ever traveling to an unknown destination

Dead eyes stare yet do not see the underwater scenery

No goosebumps form on the lifeless skin in the chill water

Nor do nerves complain at the scrapes and cuts received

With the sun and moon ever trading places

The journey continues for the corpse

The microorganisms inside are a busy lot

Feasting and multiplying and playing their part

Fish, bacteria, and other denizens of the water

Aid the decomposition of this fleshy vessel

Gassy offal from the creatures inside find no escape yet

Days and miles and putrescence bring about a certain buoyancy

Equilibrium between body weight and contained gasses

Suspension in this medium grants a graceless ease of movement

There are fewer things to impede the journey

Though the piling of a bridge causes brief horizontal cartwheels

And gouges a small chunk out of the deteriorating skin on one heel

Does the soul travel with the body on this trip?

Or is it long gone to another destination?

That matters not to the vessel that carried it briefly

Nor does time or the river care

One night, ammonia and methane overtake mass

Under the moon, where fresh water bleeds into salt

The muddy river hands off its passenger in the estuary

On its surface, the sea ushers the floating body away from shore

Soon, eyeless sockets stare up at a sky blazing with stars

Each point of light, another possibility

Smiling teeth show in the moonlight through a lipless mouth

At a sudden stir in the water, the body submerges at the feet

When it resurfaces, it’s missing part of a leg

Loose flesh drifts from the jagged bone at the knee

Another tugging underwater and an arm is missing

And then it happened

There’s a huge sigh at a bite in the torso

A cloud of sharp putrid air is released

Like the smoke from burning fat rose to the heavens

When the Trojans worshiped their Theoi

So too does this fetid, stench ascend to the sky

Looking back the body disappears from the surface

Its buoyancy lost, it slowly sinks and is consumed

What parts make it to the seabed are distributed there

And so, its journey ends

A struck match is held under a cigar

A mouth, hidden by a bearded face, draws on the other end

Smoke spews from the man’s mouth

He sips single malt scotch neat from a short clear glass

As he reaches to put the glass back on the table in front of him, he pauses

Suddenly feeling as though a weight has been lifted from his shoulders

What weight, he can’t explain

He couldn’t possibly know

But his secret will remain his to keep

There will never be found any evidence

of the murder carried out weeks ago

#darkpoetsclub