[FOsen]

Cleft

XXXXXX“Branchial cleft cysts are remnants of embryonic development and result from
XXXXXXXa failure of obliteration of the branchial cleft, which in fish develop into gills.”
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXFitzpatrick's Dermatology in General Medicine

At first, we're each an embryo with gills,
Afloat within an amniotic sea
As tide by tide, the space inside us fills—
Except that never happened, quite, with me.

My doctor diagnosed that I'd been left
Unfinished; like some throwback to the deep,
I bore a prehistoric fish's cleft.
The small, unnoticed pore would sometimes weep

A fleck of salt behind a collar stay
But we agreed, I'd thought, to co-exist,
Until it had to be immured one day,
When it raised a sudden, angry cyst.

Now, I'm evolved and watertight as you.
At times though, I feel emptier as I am,
Cast loose and dammed, without connection to
An ocean where unfathomed others swam.

Frank