Divers

Girls, poised on the brink of life
giggling through the overture
impatient for the performance to begin
eager to fly solo.

Like the diver from Paestum
exuberant, clean-limbed, trusting,
he’s climbed the marble tower
and hurled his body into space
suspended in the air, forever
supported by updraughts of anticipation
and reckless optimism
frozen by the hugeness and impossibility
of the blue which stretches out
below, beneath, in all directions,
raising his head for one last look
at the tree of life.

(Ancient Greek tomb painting from Paestum, Italy)