Poem: 'Treading water' by Alan Lisanti

Treading water

By Alan Lisanti

Into unknown

In the uncharted depths I roam

Clueless alone

I can see where I should go

But I'm lost no control

Fires guide the soul

Fear is all let go

Sink or swim with eyes full of hesitation

Lead to the path by the failures I've known

From shapeless I've grown

Limbs like lifelines keep me afloat

Destination disclosed

Thrill is in the purging of these bottomless holes

From nothing but mistakes

I carve the canvas from the mould

Venture to the absence of faith in one's soul

I had to be defeated to cling to my hold

But in my hands future slips away from the bold

To tempt the unattainable

Turns silver to gold

You'd rather carve desires from these

desperate lows

Fake it til you make it

Sounds so easy I suppose

Sheep sheds his wool

The never should have been

Reveals his teeth that of wolves

You climbed upon the spines of

The tame and stepped on their skulls

To reach the out of reach by any means

Don't divulge

The secret to becoming lies

In undoing what you've known

You flaunt your own roles

Everything you do ensures

You won't be exposed

Resist devolution choosing limits

Not goals

In my unbecoming I have become my own ghost

And from the realm of nether

I have learned to let go

To revive the survivalist

From the restrictive plateau

And ever then beyond I shall adapt to the throes

Sink or swim and onward

Supercedes the undertow

Survival's not enough

You have to bite down on hope

Blind and in the dark

You find your strength is tenfold