He was doing the butterfly when he
stopped.
and stood up in the middle of the pool
shimmering
reflecting
pausing
to look inward infinitely and quickly look
the other way outward infinitely he was
instantly alone
he didn’t need to swim. He could stand. He stood.
He stood alone in the pool while others swam past him looking down. Heads down, he could breathe. For the first time, he could see. He was a butterfly with much too much consciousness for this he was unprepared but not scared.
The shadows on the roof were birds but they were not real birds. The shadows were outside. He knew what birds looked like. He could remember from when he was human. Now he was a butterfly and butterflies taste with their feet.
He is looking at me but I am invisible. He is thinking about something else. He is beautiful. He is there.