Poetry
Deep Blues
To All the Caregivers in the World
Our dolphin doctor is a wonderful doctor
A doctor for everyone living in Sunlight
A family doctor they call Dr. Faster
Emergency doctor for any disaster
Maybe you’re hurt, afraid or alone
Maybe you ventured outside of your zone
Believe me, you really don’t need to be scared
Believe me, this doctor, he really cares
Once little starfish forgot her way home
She cried her blue tears feeling really alone
Dr. Faster dove in to be near by her side
He became her caregiver, her friend and her guide
Diving almost into the twilight array
He found her quickly and swooshed her away
Then he followed the waves and followed the tide
He found her home and made sure she’s alright
Down where starfish have eyesight and glow
Down where anemones flutter hello
Down where some creatures see even at night
Deep blues where nobody has perfect foresight
Our Dr. Faster heals creatures of Sunlight
But his mind has limits, no matter how bright
And when he’s not perfect at something he does
He gives way to a specialist, Dr. Farnaz
She knows many things about the ocean below
Where its hard to distinguish the darkness from glow
She helps if you suffer from something more serious
Her methods are novel, complex and mysterious
She can dive in much deeper than our Dr. Faster
She can steer you away from a major disaster
She descends into twilight to find blue souls
She paints them with colors and assigns new roles
The times of my youth were not stormy at all
I was happy in winter, spring, summer and fall
I believe I was fine until something went wrong
And I steered away from my own comfort zone
I remember I played with my friends in the sand
I remember the starfish that got washed up on land
I remember I stopped to admire the views
I remember not knowing that I had the blues
When I noticed the starfish right there on the shore
I just wanted to help it go swimming some more
So, I followed the waves and I followed the tide
I just wanted to make sure that she was alright
I don’t know how the wave came and swept me away
The starfish was sinking through the Sunlight array
Together, descending into the night
Together, we went to the end of twilight
Then, I saw the abyss of the ocean below
Down where the anemones whisper hello
Down where some creatures see even at night
Deep blues where most people lose their foresight
I remember high pitch of his echolocation
Dr. Faster performed his evaluation
He could never reach me in the deep lonely blues
So, he called Dr. Farnaz, whom I wouldn’t refuse
Such a slow and enormously overwhelming massif
She dissolved heavy pressures of my deep lonely grief
I still feel the upwelling of her atypical healing
One that steered me back to Sunlight kind of living
I woke up on the back of a remarkable dolphin
Dr. Faster was rushing me back to the shore
I felt better, but he stayed to treat me some more
To tell me what happened and what my treatment was for
“You are still very young to dive in too deep
But because of this journey, other ones wont be steep
Practice all these new methods and learn not to confuse
Brief sadness and grief with the deep lonely blues
But nobody knows you better than you
Life pressures can change all the colors to blue
Then you can follow the waves and follow the tide
And find me if you ever need help or a guide”
My friends helped me breath again back on the sand
Joked I looked like the starfish that washed up on land
Dr. Faster rushed off to someone else out there
To someone in need of Sunlight kind of care
I have a friend called Hadal who has the deep blues
Not the kind you can just forget and defuse
I hope to convince him that he really should
See a specialist doctor who is really good
So, I’ll sing him a song about my journey below
About everything that I think that I know
About a magical cure that leads to Sunlight
About the way that I learned to trust my foresight
Hadal followed my lead and came out a star
From down where anemones wrote this memoir
Down where some creatures see even at night
Deep blues where good doctors restore your foresight
—
© 2024 Jill Blinick. All Rights Reserved.
I wrote this poem after being forbidden to visit a sick relative in a hospital during the pandemic. I was so mad, and words poured out, and I realized these were the words that I wanted to hear. It may be what all caregivers want to hear when waiting, hoping for the best, and doing their best for their sick relatives for hours, years, and maybe longer. The waiting feels abysmal and cold, and I thought if this poem were lying around, I’d read it and get lost in the magic of how the ocean and whales upwell the ill waters and me with it.
