Summer Well

the faltering air
warm syrup
oozing
over uncountable green fingers
poking through the moss
above the soft dark loam
busy with ants

below
slow-dancing worms
feasting in the labyrinths of the blind
amid the pale tubers
leafless
inching though the soil
unlit sunseekers
following their hearts
waylaid
below the stones
suspended
like bubbles in the cool still earth

three fathoms down
lies the water
clear turned starless black
unsilvered
mirroring the unseen
inscrutable
biding her time
eyeing the sky
above her breathing hole
a mouth of aging lime and clay
heard whispering in corridors
and abandoned places

cold-skinned and malignant
she lies quietly
patiently
eternally
like a nightmare under the bed
listening to me breathe
willing me
daring me
to put down a single naked foot


can no one save me?