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 in memory of her.