The River

Wandering through a thick dewy mist,

white clouds billow around her,

kissing her cheeks with dampness as she walks.

Distant cries of loneliness and fear are her only companions.

Who makes these sounds? 

Who is filled with so much pain?

Lost, drifting unaware of what way is forward and what is back..

Where did she come from? 

Where is she going?

Ahead she hears a river, 

wild and thrashing at the banks and 

within the jagged rocks throughout its depths.

At its shores she knows she must cross.

For behind her the mist has become dark, 

dark and heavy, too much of a burden to bare.

She paces along the edge of the tumultuous water

seeing if there is an easier way to navigate to the other side.

No such luck is hers, for every way looks even harder still.

As she looks on to the dark water with white frothy rapids

it begins to enchant her mind,

beckoning to her to plunge into the depths and return not.

She can not visualize what is on the other side. 

More mist? More darkness?

More cries of pain?

This she does not know,

yes it could be better but the river,

it sings to her a sweet soft melody.

After sitting at the banks for a time

she decides she must try to cross. 

Gingerly choosing each step she enters the river.

What she thought would be cold and icy feels warm and pleasant on her skin.

The water reaches her chest and she feels it start to pull at her.

Her footing is lost and the river screams at her as it tosses her too and fro. 

Loosing sight of the other side, she lets the river take her.

It pulls her under, its beguiling song now terror in her ears,

as water begins to fight its way into her lungs.

The river mocks her now,

taking her breath and breaking her will against its unforgiving rocks. 

There is no fight left in her.

The river has taken another victim. 

The river has won.

The River has won.