The Body of an Ancient Sea

(written 1:00am Monday, June 27, 1966)

The body of an ancient sea
Completes the circuit of veins,
And tugs me when I drink at streams.
And, tasting tears or sweat, I know
I should return to it again.

And in my sleep I watch it stretching
To the unconcerned horizon,
Watch, unable to decide,
If sea meets sky
Or sky meets sea.

And too the sun seems unimportant,
Impotent and far away.
The rains are noiseless effigies
Of death to my myopic eyes.

And I can hear its lapping yet,
Mute through umbilical generations.

But sometimes though, just sometimes,
Inside, I feel uneasy,
And then I know the tide is swelling in.

- Sitaram