Locket

She watched it sink to the bottom
Or maybe it flew
because as the golden links slipped through her
sea-salted fingers one by one,
she saw wings glint off it in flashes of sun
and didn’t know if she had let it go;
or had it left on its own?
She could only watch it fly
decide whether to grasp it back
but when her mind caught up her hands were lost
Her flying heart was sinking slow, soaking wet,
feathering watery light in cold reflections
She thought of the photo inside, now
colors unglued.
The sand could take it from its frame,
embrace it and rub off the memories

When it reaches the floor with the oysters and their pearls,
she thinks the soft metal will unclasp
and its empty shells could only offer her own drops of salt
to string with the oysters’ treasures.
For now, she could only see it hanging
there, her dainty chain suspended
with water’s push and gravity’s pull.
She ponders diving in after it,

but she knows she would sink much faster.

She sees herself in the surface as the glimpse of gold
slips from her vision
It disappears as she ripples in the reflection,
an apparition of sun-blown sadness
All her smiles taste bitter,
salty wind stings her eyes as she blinks
against the glare
Too much salt could be what she needs
It could clean those golden links
wash them in a warm-sea rinse
and the sun would bleach out her pain.

She worries that in landing, her gold,
guarded heart has broken on the sea floor
But maybe the chain caught on a jagged
edge, left it cradled and whole.
She doesn’t wonder anymore:
she knows she let it go.
If the ocean weren’t so deep,
she could come back for it someday.