your boots send shivers across ice as thin as paper
wisps of snow float through the air
you can't help but think
as the cracks in the ice circle around you like a web
about all the times you kept walking
when the people who loved you most cried your name out in vain
when you locked your eyes on the ground with your head down
no time wasted but no time spent well
you think of your ignorance
when you refused to let anyone help

you realize all the things you should've done
you feel the empty lurch of your stomach as the ice breaks
as you fall to a freezing death
thinking - if only

if only I had kept my head up high
if only I had smiled just that once
if only I hadn't pushed all my friends away
if only I had listened

if only I had read the sign that said,
'thin ice'