Ebb and Flow
By JAIA

Life pauses for breath, and the surge
Of silence, damp and heavy,
Sweeps the shores,
Tearing into houses built on stilts,
Ripping foundations, swallowing whole.
Shaky debris clings to the tide,
Carried out to sea and back again,
Undulating to a fearful, foreign sway.

Lost to the world, left behind,
Knowing each moment that slips by
Is increasing the distance,
While I bob and gasp and stay afloat,
I'm afraid to reach out,
Feel the brush of sodden waste.
I won't sink yet, but stasis
Eats my soul alive.

Bump goes a log, a wire mesh,
Bump goes my pitiful heart.
I squeeze the pain, squash the want,
Pray my strength would return someday.

And perhaps it isn't anything new,
Just old habits dying hard.

As usual, the way things flow
Like the current of the sea, dragging.

Thanks for reading!
April 29, 2007