All my life
water has been weightless.
So I did not fear it when I met you on the shore.
You insisted it was shallow
That the waters touch would be painless
Convinced me it was pure.

Then you lit
A cigarette. Offered one to me
Said it made it easier to breathe.
Its stale smoke was intoxicating
Like your presence,
I soaked it up.
But it burned in my lungs and suffocated
Even the water could not extinguish its flame.

Under the water
I perceived things more clearly.
Your ashen face and broken soul
Of your games I had grown weary.
But it was too late I felt the waters weight with you
Like crimson ribbons the blood from our wounds
Intermingled and consumed.
I couldn’t drift away from you

My screams were silenced in this bottomless depth
But your lips never moved.
And then I realised
You didn’t want to be saved
From the moment we met upon the shore
You wanted me to feel
your pain

Once I was inexplicably drawn to you
But now I’m struggling to escape your grip.
I refuse to drown with you
My fingertips are reaching the surface.