Almost, but not entirely, unlike fish.

Underground is deep in places.
Deep under.
Buried in space and time.
Connecting the romantic awe of the past,
when the technology was new
and the belief in its potential – unrestrained,
with the pragmatic helplessness of the present,
when we take a deep breath
before plunging into the unknown.
No longer an exciting miracle,
mysterious yet knowable,
but a complex system,
poorly understood and therefore dangerous.

You have to enter,
to give yourself up to the incomprehensible,
to the frightening and uncontrollable,
on a daily basis.
Just to get from A to B.
That’s how we travel in the close,
crowded space of the city.
That’s how we travel in time,
progressively more complicated.
Taking a deep breath
before plunging into a crowd
like water.

As you go under,
you can no longer hear the rain.
The water does not transmit sound,
it exerts pressure.
Comforting and stifling, it holds you tight.
Deep under.