Oh it's perfectly fine down here, I swear

The pressure's just a gentle kind of care

My lungs have learned to improvise, you see

Turns out I never needed air — not me

The fish give me this look, I can't explain

Like, honey, you are clearly not okay

But I just wave politely and I stay

Down in my absolutely thriving way

They said "come up, come up, the surface is right there"

I said "I'm good, I'm good — I love it everywhere"

Salt in my voice, chlorophyll in my hair

Breathing underwater — it's a lifestyle, dear

Breathing underwater, doing great

Never been better, don't relate

To that whole oxygen debate

Breathing underwater, feeling free

The coral thinks I'm finally me

And who am I to disagree

With the sea — with the beautiful, drowning sea

I've scheduled all my panic for next year

My calendar is blessedly unclear

I've made a little home beside the wreck

(It's not a metaphor, or — well — check)

The current brings me all the news I need

All soaking wet and pleasantly agreed

My therapist is a philosophic eel

He doesn't speak but God he makes me feel

You know what they don't tell you about water

It holds you — really holds you — like a daughter

Or a secret — or a hand that won't let go

Isn't that just — isn't that just — oh

~ ~ ~

I meant to surface sometime around June

June of some unspecified year — soon

(spoken, fragmented, half-sung)

...bubbles going up... I wave... they wave back...

...everyone down here is very understanding...

...there's a lot of light actually... blue light...

...it's absolutely... it's absolutely fine...

Breathing underwater, doing great

Never been better, don't relate

To that whole oxygen debate

Breathing underwater, feeling free

The coral thinks I'm finally me

And who am I to disagree

With the sea

With the sea

With the beautiful — inevitable — sea

(humming, then silence)

...perfectly fine...