midnight swimmer

Torch-lit water illuminates
a chasm of hard darkness,
where killer sharks could likely lurk
in stark discord with quacking ducks
which scatter, scared
when artificial light flares.

The vast expanse of rippling blackness
is in shock, a delicate nervous system,
when you submerge, just for kicks.
Re-surfacing, (in)observing lacked light
and child-like tricks - is it a tall tree
at the water's edge or a monstrous, macabre 'Man'?

Oh man it's floor-less here and
the reservoir shore escapes you.
The cold ingratiates into bones and
you're searching, sightless, for something there.
Where oh where would you be
but here, at midnight?

Toying with the edge
in a sweaty and prurient palm,
relishing a drama played out deep down
in the submerged, underwater world.
Can you jump? Feet first and unafraid,
the silky chill of the night swim
draping shoulders, numbing limbs.

I've never ever seen the sight of night sky
from undercover of water;
I stand mesmerised as you emerge,
baptised and disguised as a mermaid.