"Diving
into the Wreck"(cont'd)
And now: it is easy to forget
what I came for (45)
among so many who have always
lived here
swaying their crenellated fans
between the reefs
and besides (50)
you breathe differently down here.
In this unknown
world, it is easy to lose one's way. The speaker has arrived in the
ocean and is overwhelmed by the possibilities and the newness of it all.
The creatures who live in the ocean seem to live there effortlessly, as
an older, wiser person would in the real world. She breathes
differently because her soul is different and she is no longer the person
she was when she was above water. She also acknowledges that despite
being overwhelmed by the new world around her, she is not able to simply
submerge herself and live in it and that she cannot "forget"(44)
what she came here for.
I came to explore the wreck.
The words are purposes.
The words are maps.
I came to see the damage
that was done (55)
and the treasures that prevail.
I stroke the beam of my lamp
slowly along the flank
of something more permanent
than fish or weed (60)
As she begins
to explore the "wreck,"(52)
or the experience that has permanently left her confused and unsure of
herself, she must understand it in order to be able to reflect and grow
from it. The "damage that was done"(55)
has now been cast in a new light, that of the beam of her lamp, as she
starts to look inside herself and see the positive, enriching aspects of
her devastation and confusion. This new enlightened outlook is "permanent,"(59)
something she will carry with her long after she has put the wreck behind
her.
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