Leave me to drown;
the cold night air burns my skin,
and coming up for oxygen
is becoming exhausting.
You must be tired of dragging
me across the ground,
I’m tired of the branches
cutting up my skin,
so I run back to shore.
Always back to the shore.
I look up and I pray,
but for what, I don’t know.
Are you ignoring me
or am I just not hearing you?
It’s hard to tell these days.
The salty water comforts me as it fills my lungs.
It surrounds me,
it smothers me until
I can no longer breathe,
but I can’t move my limbs to
swim to shore, either,
and all the lifeboats lay discarded,
buried in the wet sand,
next to me and my rotting flesh.
--Anon, 14/05/2026
Theme : Self