Can somebody tell me why I can't tread water
Even though I live in the sea.
And could you not mention that guy with one leg
Who swims a lot faster than me.

While others are floating and carrying waves
I am still far from the shore.
So I stop, and I breathe in the salt water,
And I lay on the kind ocean floor.

Running
As far as you can
But only to the bottom of the street
Where they can still see
And that is where they want to keep you 


Sitting
No time for playing
There are things that you really need to know 
So keep yourself smart
These things are all very important


Sleeping
Even when you talk
Letting words form at the roof of your mouth
And roll down your tongue
To curl up in their smiling pockets


Falling
Just brush yourself off
These things happen to everyone your age
Get up on your own 
And don't blame the people walking by


Bleeding
You can't see a cut
You think you got it when you were falling 
No one saw you fall 
You still have that pain in your stomach


Landing
No more bleeding now
Trying to settle on top of the ice
But you fall straight through
And you learn to breathe underwater


Floating 
Your eyes are open
The sea bed lets you in on a secret 
You don't have to eat
You start to crave the ice less and less


Sinking
Things change quickly now
You don't even try to swim any more
Even though you shout
They can't see the water like you can


Nothing 
You were so perfect
They just can't see how this happened to you
Boys don't get depressed
Or put weights inside pocket linings.

The opulence of spider's webs.
Succumbed to the seduction of frost 
following a winter's kiss.
The deliberate movements of creatures we **** with large books
And capture in glass and rolled up paper. 
So ignored and 
unwanted and 
unwilling 
to become silently encrusted
and suddenly abundant
Yet still treasured and precious and rare. 
Only because of the winter we often find
so cold and 
so dark and 

so 

infinite. 



Without the chilled infinity
And our own winters
And our own darkness
We would **** our own creatures
with large books
And capture them in glass and rolled up paper.

We would not appreciate or 
speculate or 
come to love the things we loathed 
or notice the opulence 
of 
spider's 
webs.