On the realisation of absolute insignificance
Cool water sweeping between half open fingers
Like a goldfish with chewed fins I swam.
I could never grasp the cupped hand
It took me twice as long as you to get to the rock.
With a sunny halo, you reached out
Clasped my arm
Barnacles scratched skin as I clambered up.
The evaporated sea already leaving salty residue
On your tan skin in the heat.
My half wet head fit neatly into
The curve of your collar.
Above us, a forgiving, endless expanse of blue,
Below us, the finite H2O lay heavy on its bed
And we were two,
A Copernican revelation
In a universe of blue.
Leti Mortimer is a third year English with Creative writing student at Brunel University. She runs a Poetry Society at the university and has read at and helped to organise a night of poetry with Benjamin Zephaniah. She has recently become an editor for The Poetry Archive.