Safe Shores

Safe Shores

I never swam for fear of drowning,

slipping helpless below the surface of life

until exhausted of oxygen.

I play the images in my head,

my body floating free and dead.

I have no faith that I could survive;

hold my precious breath long enough.

And so I keep to dry land,

well away from the waters edge.

I look with envy at the bathers,

pretend to loathe them and despise them with my pity

for risking their lives in the cold and cruel sea.

But really it is my shame that shouts.

I try to pretend that I am content, above it all,

dry and aloof, safe on my solid ground.

But in my heart I scream inside

at the torment of walking these shores alone.

 

4^th May 2010