Sunday, August 17, 2014

It Comes In Like the Tide

The dark comes in stealthily, like the rising of the tide.  At first, it laps at the toes.  Walking is still an option despite the sensation of the solid ground being eaten away from under the soles of the feet.  You might totter, wave your hands for balance, and press on. It isn't serious.

But if you don't watch it, it is.

Suddenly, before you even know it, you're in it knee-deep, waist-deep, chest-deep, and it's cold, so very, very cold....

You'd swim, but the currents pull from below with an obscene hunger.  You'd cry out, but in the dark, there is no one who can hear, no one at all.

So you start out with the best of intentions.  If you can just hang on for awhile, it has to back off, drain away, let you put feet on solid ground.  It can't last forever, can it?

But even if you watch it, it does.

Sooner or later, even the strongest of swimmers gets a cramp.  Sooner or later, even the most optimistic eye stops believing there will be light.

It comes in like the rising of the tide, and the world below you disappears.