Do Not Jump Off The Bridge

Do Not Jump Off The Bridge

Do not jump off the bridge.

The waters have dried up.

The fall is a ledger of regret.

You will not land in forgiveness,

but on glass and old receipts.

The echo you expect is flat, indifferent.

Stay where the air can be counted,

where the light still recognises you.

There are bones beneath

the story you tell at night.

The river remembers mouths,

but it does not hold them sweetly.

I have seen where water pretended

to be mercy. Itwas a lie.

Now it is a bitter plain of stones,

the name of what was once deep.

Do not mistake absence for safety.

The bridge keeps its shape,

but it has lost its soft answer.

Hold the rail please tight

as if it were an honest friend.

Ask someone to bring tea,

and stay to drink from the same cup.

It is okay to be afraid here,

fear is not a sentence.

It is a call for company,

spoken in a ragged voice.

If you must test the world,

do so with two hands on a rope.

Let someone hold the other end

until your breath finds its rhythm again