[ Thin Ice ] Poem by Garathe Den

I'm walking on thin ice
Weighing like an anchor
Cracks beneath my feet
This is clear and present danger
The mind says play it caution
Yet I'm hesitant to linger
One false move and I'm abandoned
To the depths of a stranger

A struggle in the solitude
Caught and independent
The burden on my back
Leave the sinews unrepentant
An aching in the heart
And the mind is unattended
As these cracks expand the course
And soon supports will be descended

Could try to move in haste
But the danger is prevailing
Shuffling my feet
To match the pace the ice is failing
My eyes catch the reflection
And is shocked by the unveiling
Feeling frozen to the nature
Of a person that is ailing

Try to calm the mind
Anxiety has risen
You can feel it pierce your heart
Panicked with indecision
Try to move out from the center
And yet gravity is driven
Set to keep you on a course
And hold you in this prison

Shallow is my breathing
With calculated action
If I exhaust all my efforts
How can I maintain traction
One step leading the other
Yet divided is their faction
The means of making choice
Both cause and reaction

If this ice breaks
Will I be swallowed up in darkness
Will I meet the fate of peril
Of a truth I never harnessed
Can't quite still my breathing
Halt this quiver in a sternness
Friction assailed against me
And I default to being nervous

Weighted and dragging
No chance against the tide
Need the ice to hold form
For the moments I'm alive
For the moment I am blind
Finding nothing to confide
The ice still cracks beneath me
And I am running out of time

One step and then the other
A slow and steady pace
Water seeping through the cracks now
Makes it hard to feel embraced
Closer to the edge
Widening the space
Nearing my salvation
While the ice is giving way

© HeartOfBabel