Descent

Descent

The first descent by human into the hadal zone
was in a sphere of steel and plexiglass, alone,
in the sense that the abyss did not know we were there,
and would not have cared regardless of what we declare.

Walsh and Piccard in the Trieste sixty years ago
watched the steel viewport creak and crack and saw the glow
of the searchlights on the sediment below their feet,
and the descent was complete when the floor said complete.

I have had my own descents into the bottom of things,
and what I found at bottom was not what the dread brings
in the anticipation of the going down.
Descent to the floor is simpler than the sound.

Descent, descent, the needle going past the max.
Descent, descent, the pressure on the tracks.
Descent, descent, until the floor appears.
Descent, descent, past all the surface fears.