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.