swim until you can't see land

we salute at the threshold of the north sea
in my mind
and a nod to the boredom that drove me here
to face the tide and swim
i swim, oh swim

dip the toe in the ocean. oh how it hardens and it numbs.
and the rest of me is a version of man
built to collapse into crumbs
and if i hadn't come down
to the coast to disappear
i may have died in a land-slide
of the rocks, the hopes and fears.

so swim until you can't see land.
swim until you can't see land.
are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
swim until you can't see land

up to my knees now, do i wait? do i dive?
the sea has seen my like before though it's my first
and perhaps last time.
let's call me a baptist, call this the drowning of the past
she's there on the shoreline
throwing stones at my back

so swim until you can't see land
swim until you can't see land
are you a man or are you a bag of sand?
swim until you can't see land

now the water's taller than me
and the land is a marker line
all i am is a body adrift in water, salt and sky

["swim until you can't see land" frightened rabbit]

listen to all of their stuff: it is so good.