Estuary

Plunging, we tasted salt
sharper than a dream
and, breathless,
still on the tongue,
brine skin. You head first.
I climbed down, cold
like heat, into numb.
We remembered how to touch,
invented strokes we never
practiced—more prickly
on your tongue
my shivering skin.
Gasping air like breathing in
the night, till we floated
shoulders, arms, hands, feet:
into one forbidden city
we sank
and bribed the guards.
Did we go home—
did we ever swim—
frozen in summer ice?