The water rises, slow but sure,
it takes my breath, it grips my skin.
I reach for land, a saving shore,
but waves pull tight and drag me in.
My voice is small, a hollow sound,
it breaks like glass, it fades like mist.
No hands extend, no rope comes down,
the world moves on—I don’t exist.
I see the sky but can’t touch light,
I dream of wings but feel the chain.
And so I sink, and so I stay,
a body drowned beneath the rain.
9. Helplessness and Powerlessness