Time snaps the whip.
Cobalt and garnet shock
the darkness.
Light bursts forth,
cracks the silent cauldron
that held it tight.
Curling currents gust
from unknown places,
sweeping bare.
Jagged mountains draw
apart, reveal wild ocean
roiling to the horizon.
Go on: run
for deep water,
hatch headlong.
Elizabeth L. Merrick’s poems have appeared in journals including Rue Scribe, Stone Poetry Quarterly, Amethyst Review: New Writing Engaged with the Sacred, Pineberry Literary Journal, and Muddy River Poetry Review. She has also authored scientific research publications and a guidebook on Boston’s historic house museums. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.