Scylla, Daughter of Nisus

At what moment
did the sea become
a leaden cloak,
did she begin to imagine
breathing water
as some kind of release?
That was the moment
when her body
began to change, the wings
she first thought fins
began to move, so that
she spiralled
upwards — a slow, unbreathing
climb till she
broke through
the sea's winged surge
and spiralled higher
tranced by surprise
the escape into sunlit air
a radiant pain.
In such an altered
body she knew a different
world — without
longing, joy,
but with their perfect
expression. "Who was I,
then,' she asked,
"plotting to have my
lover murder my
father?' Around her,
the birds sang perfectly,
from perfect nests.
Sea-winds blew,
ruffling the down
of the newest born,
invading the most
hidden warmth,
taking their due.