Slowly I step

From rock to rock

Across the stepping stones

Covered with moss.

The rocks are like a well laid trap

Unable to see which are stable, and which are not

I slip into the cold murky water.

I try to claw my way back.

trying to hold on

To the thin little reeds

that are all the connection there is

to keep me from going under.

What is left?

Every time I grasp a reed

It pulls out

It’s roots are shallow

I slip a little farther away.

Soon…all connection to where I was

Has been uprooted

by me

Trying to hold on.

And so, without a movement, or an intention

I have let go

Because there was nothing to keep me there.

No hand reached for mine.

No voice called me back.

No memory guided me

Back to where I had come from.

I slide away,

away from the stepping stones that would have led me to the other side.

Away from the place I knew and loved.

I guess sometimes we are just meant to move on.