Drowning

They tell you not to try

to rescue someone who is drowning.

The same They that broadcasts

the old adage of young adults

believing in their invincibility–

betrayed by their bodies,

their once illuminated eyes

replaced with dullness and a vacant stare.

I never understood until I tried

to save you.

Water down my esophagus,

spilling out my nose–

and down under we go again,

muscles burning against the resistance–

treading water while we bury fingernails

in each other's skin.

I am aware of every module of my body

trying to reconfigure into an entity

that can save you from the sea.