Wading in
The water cold
Around my knees, my thighs, my waist
Cloth floats around my body
Paler waves of white cotton
Undulate like the delicate fins
Of passing fish
Heart thunders against the cage
Of my chest
From somewhere a voice
Pushes me forward, deeper
Stones and sand hold my feet
From the floor of the sea
I cannot see below
Not yet
Only the horizon
And the rising sun
Wading in, light jumps
Through the waves
Children chasing themselves
Random and free
Like the seemingly chaotic
Flight of a butterfly
Caught in the slightest breeze
I am up to my neck now
Moving further
Arms stretched out
Below the surface
To keep my balance
My mind screams to hesitate
As the darkness looms
Through the clear water
My toes dig in as the edge
Pulls me nearer
Closer still with each
Half step now
Inching inching inching
There is no one left
To do this
To step out from the shifting sand
No one left to guide
To hold my hand
To assure me
To push me
Over
No blame
Only mine
Only mind
Only me now
In this expanse of sea
Left here to
Spread myself
My self
Outward
In this light
~
13.06.06
Leigh-Anne Tyson
lei fraser 