Song Description
Geometry, she knew, never changes. But perspectives do. Like people with shaped lenses. And that, more than the fall itself, was what Ethel was testing.
She stood at the lip, moss soft under her toes. She wasn't guessing. Ethel was accessing the parallax, the perspective that twisted the view from below. She saw the "direct line" they couldn't.
She launched.
The fall was pure physics, her arms aligned with the pull, her legs riding the line. The basin tilted up to meet her. The impact was a forceful clap that echoed of the falls rocks, then turquoise silence as Ethel watched a crayfish tail flick through the caustic blue. She rose. Surface break. New breath.
Back on the stone, she passed behind them. They were still on the shelf, staring at their screens, but their posture had changed. The easy bravado was gone, replaced by a "gait shifted," heavy unease.
This was the real test of perspective. They had the image of the dive, but now they were colliding with the reality of the person who did it.
Lyrics
Looks are deceiving
From here?
Direct line
Deep water
Unlikely to miss
I won't
From down there?
Parallax
Perspective
Edges jagged
Dive looks impossible
Basin formed from cliffs
Green canopy desert dust drift
They've taken the shelf
spread out facing the drop
Phones up
Light glints glass set to catch the distance
Moss soft under my toes
Heel just off the lip
Hip turned in
Here we go
Launch
Fall
Air takes over
Arms align with the drop's pull
Legs ride the fall's line
The basin tilts up
Impact
water wraps shut
Pressure locks the ribs
Light caustics scatter turquoise
Bottom clear enough to see
A tail fly past
Eggs tucked under
crays tail-flicks fast
Slow turn
Kick
Rise
Surface break
New breath
My spot
That lone pixel dot
Found from above
The Drop
They're still on the shelf
Phones steady
Walking apart heavy
Gait shifted
One looks stops lets it go
Another stays fixed on the screen
Eyes rise short laugh
Cuts it
Stone underfoot again
I pass behind
From their shelf no line through
Rock teeth in the drop
Depth squeezes distance
It shouldn't work
They'll post it
No bearings
No measure
Just noise
I won't correct them