A Child

Pats the water with her foot

Ripples

Spread gently, caressing the surface

Gliding outward, searching for shore

Fading to smooth


Tiny toes

Break the fluid plain

Movement

Life upon the stillness

Reaching

Longing

Hoping for a place to land


Again and again

Each gentle touch fades

Weakened waves reaching

Never touching the distant sand

Destination


SPLASH!


Surges churn turbulence of sea

Arms and legs violate the stillness

Liquid rage calls

To the depths

Unknown concentric waves

Demanding, diminishing, stopping


Stillness

Descending shimmers

Calming the spot

Closing the circle

Cessation


Now

On a distant shore

Small ripples lap the sand

Lap the sand

Home


-Once, an Adolescent that I knew took her own life. This poem is dedicated to Cathy.