Tide Poem by Candice Renae Williams

My friend, do not leave me
If only my pleading could
Keep you on balance
But, no, not for lack of effort
Nor the use of optimism in a battle of wills
It is just the deviances of hope and despair
Blanketing the mind with desperation
I cannot pretend to know the reason
You chance to go away
Making your escape, if you prefer,
To be named a coward
Why must I be strong?
YOU will be carried away.
By that tide as a mindless
Body carrying your feelings across an un-channeled distance
I will jump in.
Now, as I fall down to catch you
Will you grasp my hand?
But NO my rescue fails due to you
Why do you not reach out and brave the current?
Others seek to lend you the balance to stay above the water
Yet, I know that you will stay in that precarious position
You persist in being the meandering fool
Not to look beyond the pain
And instead to insist with blame
Accept as I have, I beg you to not let go
Do not fade away whilst I hold onto my own fantasy
Time doesn’t escape my notice of how you silently drift further into nothing
I can only mock these winds taking you upon their whim
I can do nothing as a friend
And that in itself pulls me down as well
Because I do not understand
And I do not want to comprehend
The magnitude of grief your leaving will inflict
And I cry with my useless pleading,
Tears for you to hold on
And grasp my aching hand...
For it is stretched as far down as it will go.
My friend do not leave me to face this tide
Don’t be swept away to somewhere unknown
I will have to stand alone while the present continues
As if I could face my past and then my future alone


Surely,
I will go asunder
And not be able to stay above
My friend I need you to not let go
Leaving me to brave this tide alone