The Woman Who Returned to the Water

The island was going down below the horizon
That was when she stood up

No one had asked her to come
She climbed aboard on her own
They were the hands that brought the documents up
So she must have wanted to see it through
But after half a day of rowing
She stood at the bow
Looking not forward but back
Watching the island go away

The woman who returned to the water
We did not hold her back
The woman who returned to the water
Because that sea was her dry land

The scholar asked, what is it
She answered, smiling
When I get to the mainland, what am I
A woman with no letters and no name
Here I am the master
There I would have to lower my head
Your fight is a fight of the land
I have already finished mine
I met the bones and I brought up the names
My part ends here

The woman who returned to the water
We did not hold her back
The woman who returned to the water
Because that sea was her dry land

She set down the float
She left the iron pick behind
Like someone with nothing to take
She retied the ties of her jacket
And looked at the three of us, once each
To the old fisherman she bowed her head
Because she knew his son's name
To the scholar she said nothing
Because everything to say was already written
And then she went into the water
It made no sound

A long while later
Far off, one breath-whistle was heard
It meant: alive
We took up the oars again

The woman who returned to the water
We did not hold her back
The woman who returned to the water
Because that sea was her dry land
We went north
And she went down
Both were the way home

The island disappeared completely
But she had not disappeared
She had gone back