Drift Diving Poem by Gary Witt

We enter the water and slowly descend
To the white sandy floor where rays glide,
Grass bends and friendly coral wave.

The current accelerates us
Forward to the reef,
Where the scenery changes
To fans and anemones, with
Delicate fluorescent fish feeding
On a plankton-infested wall.

Now the current speeds us too quickly
Through a volcanic valley of pitted rock
And out to barren sand.
We kick, we whirl; we struggle to stall ourselves
In this rushing massive movement of water.
But we cannot, for we are helpless.
There is nothing now to hold us,
Nothing for us to hold.

Some say we are carried,
Others we are pulled, or swept.
A thermal chills us,
We check our gauges.
Time and the tank have emptied,
And we surface with but one hope:
That a boat will be there for us, soon.