Submerged within the planet’s wonders,

I allow myself to be carried downstream

by the river’s own volition.

Feeling this new feeling that I’ve never felt before,

I’m tempted to do something that I’ve never done before.

As second-nature as breathing,

I allow myself to ease into my surroundings.

I open up my chest,

and let the fist-sized mound of red

fall out from my rib cage.

I watch it sink down and land peacefully

with a soft ‘thump’ on the riverbed.

Despite the little voice of hesitance in my mind,

I swim away with a new kind of confidence.

I leave my heart here in the river,

so that I will feel forever compelled

to return back home.

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Sadaf Nasir combines her passions for photography and poetry with Home is Where the Heart Is. She is from Milwaukee, WI and will study biomedical sciences and psychology at Marquette University in the fall. Sadaf is a Graduate of Northwest Passage underwater photography program Under the Surface.