The Third One

The three of them sat before the window looking at the sea.
One talked about the sea. The second listened. The third
neither spoke nor listened; he was deep in the sea; he floated.
Behind the window panes, his movements were slow, clear
in the thin pale blue. He was exploring a sunken ship.
He rang the dead bell for the watch; fine bubbles
rose bursting with a soft sound – suddenly,
‘Did he drown?’ asked one; the other said: ‘He drowned.’ The
  third one
looked at them helpless from the bottom of the sea, the way one
  looks at drowned people.

Yiannis Ritsos


(Picture: Sadko in the Underwater Kingdom, Ilya Repin)