Say:
Suppose Sara
slips?
She sobs? She silences?
She sighs some sorrow
somewhere,
shadowless?
Soft stories surface:
Sara suffered,
slipped,
survived
scarless, somehow.
Still,
sweet sweat,
salt, signals, smile,
she still surfaces
sans summoning.
So sure:
Sara survives
sleepless, supplicating, shocked.
Somehow,
Sara
stays submissive,
so solemnly she sips silence.
Sunless, structure, sense —
simply smoke,
sentimental scrap,
sans substance.
Sara should sense,
stay still.
See:
sealed secret
stashed
surrounding seven
sentimental
seals.
Suffering,
still soaked,
seeking some shape —
sorrow? Shadow?
Sewer’s soul?
Suppose Sara senses
such sorrow?
Suppose she
sank?
Suppose she
screamed?
Suppose she
surged?
Suppose she
stood?
Suppose she
survived —
solitary?
So sure:
Sara
sails safely
still.
Sara
sits,
silent,
stuck,
staring Southward —
soul sterile,
suffering,
still seeking
some salvation.
– Painting: Candido Portinari, 1956. The Girl with combs.