Read Poem: SWIM, by Lori Martini

Your eyes have disguised

The pain you’ve kept inside

But I’m not blind to see

As kind as I am you are to me

Truth is what I seek and have received

I’m drowning in the deep blue waters

Masqueraded through your eyes

They’ve got me hypnotized

So I’ll dive into the shallow waters

Knowing I may not make it out alive

Though cool to the touch

You would penetrate as I burn til I’m dust

As the waves crash behind my back

And I’m washed upon your shore

I don’t know how I can stay afloat

For every breath I hold while under your spell

I pray it would last before I’d need to come up for air

I have exposed myself my soul lie bare

Yet I’m like a capsized boat that lost its sail

And it’s flooded me and I cannot bail myself out

And I cannot control the way I feel

Awake from this dream

Oh how I wish it could be real

So surreal yet I must be imagining

It doesn’t matter if I lose or win

Til I figure this out I’ll float til I learn how to swim