I hold a shell up to my ear,
and listen.
Listen to the sea calling me
Me without gill or fin
Back to my very origin.

Way back
Back to the saline sea of my mother's womb
Back to life's ultimate swim
From a safe quiet sea
To begin my life and be.

Back further still
Back to the moment of conception
In a sea of love
Poised to start the first inning.
I am back to my very beginning.

Then ages and ages back
Back a billion years or so,
When a primitive organism was I
Climbing out of a gigantic sea
A new species, the start of my family tree.