Swimming with Sharks

Swimming with Sharks

The sea is not real

its waves built from whispers and old lies

yet I swim there anyway

pulling the cold through my fingers,

like silk turned to glass

Shadows circle me

smooth as midnight

their teeth flash in silent hunger

and I keep moving because stopping is worse

The water smells of secrets

and the taste of someone else’s fear

it seeps into my skin

until my own heart feels borrowed

One comes close enough

that I can see my face in its eye

not the face I wear on land

but the one I pretend never lived here

Every stroke is a dare

each breath a slow gamble

and the game is never mine to win

only to last another moment longer

They do not rush

predators never do

they wait until the heat of your blood

is the only thing you can think about

I am not screaming

screams sink fast in seas like this

instead I watch the light

bleed away through the surface above

And when they finally take me

the water will fold shut without a mark

because in a make believe sea

no one sees you drown

not from the man eating sharks

that tear through the dream with real teeth