From Land to Water

For all those who thought that someone was being helpful by providing them with a temporary place to lay their head. What they got instead was to see another, less amiable side of people they thought they knew well.

Beyond are green and pleasant open spaces,
Helpful hands with cheerful smiling faces,
And fields with pretty blossom white as snow,
And gentle misty shadows on the doe.

The air out there is pressure free, and cool,
Beyond this gate lies stream and glassy pool,
Each breath we take is easy, life-giving and treasured;
The way back, however, is hesitant and measured.

On seaside days we walk from land to beach,
When out of depth we sink in sand beneath
The waves. Our watery evolution fails
To give us breath; water is now our gaol.

Old beams, like surf above our wounded heads,
And pressure, first absorbed by springy bed,
Engulf us all as anxiously we wait
‘Til we can swim once more beyond sluice gates.

The predator controls all that it preys,
Mastering, tracking all that it surveys.
The mermaid sings her sweetest temptress song
To those whom she has gathered in her throng.

The day will come when lungs, so pressed and sore,
Can once again breathe free upon the shore,
And we can walk towards those green and pleasant places,
To be redeemed by those with smiling faces.

It isn’t easy to swim against the tide,
But we have learned to smile, defer and hide,
We hope, our heartache and our angst
With dignity. For that at least, our thanks.