Hero and Leander

1.
I struggle against the leeching cold
and breathless flurry of this water
grappling me like an adversary
in whose arms I am surrendering
with only my mind still clear —
intent on that other adversary
whose strength provokes mine,
whose clasp sets me free,
whose body is a gathering wave
bearing me on its edge of longing,
setting me down on a shore
beyond weariness.
2.
Once he set out before daylight ended,
before I fired this lamp that the wind
or my breath has just put out.
As darkness swept over that sliding gold,
suddenly there was a wave of dolphins
moving towards him, circling him, gone.
Some of them coupled as they sped along
arrowing into chill then warmth,
through bright air, dark water,
until there was no distinction between
flying and falling,
otherness and oneness.
This is the image that shapes itself
each time I wait for him,
hold him in memory.