So, did Herodotus tread these steps
Or lay aside, like Ulysses and co
All mesmerised by bulk red wine;
The blood stunned heat;
And slap and suck of a wet cunt sea.
We too stood on those dusty stones
And then unearthed each other,
Scraped clean and bare, on a hot lazy sand.
Fumbling, sunblind, like bees at oleander
Pushed still by that sweet, insistent nudge.
You took the oldest baptism
And swam out a thousand sturdy strokes,
While I wallowed and slid in a drugged surf
The sand and pebbles scouring my belly clean;
My soul strung out in saline suspense.
Waiting a wave called evolution.
And then, redeemed, we bask again on hot stones and sand
Until, blood warmed and reborn, we rise
To gather paltry nomadic rags and baggage,
Walking into a golden late afternoon,
Toward a happy extinction.