Surfacing Elephant

having spent six years in almost too deep water
towed down with clothes on in black night
in the seventh year the sun starts to shine
clarity starts to find me out and I see the enemy
he is reflected in the pairing of my mind
my body rests emotive peeling him off me
I use my legs to push against the wet shell
it is attached to my back like a second skin
the simultaneous acts of surfacing and shedding
the six-year-midnight will take a while to leave
the fresh thought of the new year, the new sun
I find I am changed, the same, and here for a reason
no reason is unique or contrasts special meaning
just another milestone on the record of ladders