Thaw

In the water,
the ice pulling away from shore,
I see a dark fish rising
that spent all winter
suspended in the depths
barely eating,
barely moving,
barely breathing,
and barely alive.
I think of the winter in my own life,
how long I have spent
beneath my frozen ceiling
floating hapless,
suspending in the middle waters
through months of hibernation.
The fish turned to swim away
as if to say it did not care,
but I had seen in its eye
a glimpse of longing satisfied.
The melting has begun.