When your jealous of the cormorant
You see surfacing today
Fish in mouth
Nobody about.

Knowing she’s been underneath
Where the quiet isn’t eerie
Where the noise is muffled out
It comforts, it is peace.

Where the freedom lets you glide and the pressure holds you tight
weightless, timeless, other worldliness
and magically it floats you to the surface when your finally out of breath.

There sitting, bobbing, on inky black waters

Like liquid mercury, reflective

Running deep.

skb Bristol ’25

*The modern element symbol for mercury is Hg, hydrargyrum. Hydrargyrum comes from Greek words for “water-silver” (hydr- means water, argyros means silver).