At The Water’s Edge

-At The Water’s Edge-
by Keaton Foster


Along
The shore
There is a path
Well traversed
Grass
Won’t grow
Weeds
Are all that’s known
Nature in some form
Of course invades
On one side is woods
Endless New England forest
For as far as can be
A pristine paradise
Where wild creatures roam free
Unburdened by what’s near
Unafraid with what they
Don’t truly understand
Such naïve creations
Trusting instinct alone
On the other side
There is a murky pool
The water is deep
The consistency is thick
The color is of nothing
By that what is meant
The same as an empty night’s sky
One where no stars dare shine
Where nothing luminescent unwinds
Where true blackness is conveyed
In varying shades
Of hopeless nothingness
Imagine the deepest space
Imagine the truest sense of defeat
Then go and explore beyond that
Only if and when
Will you then be close
At the water’s edge
Often I will stand
Peering into an eternal bliss
Wondering to myself
What is down there
So incredibly deep
Far beyond belief
What could it be
If I jumped in
Would I sink or swim
Would I survive for a time
Then
Would I be sucked down
Into a forever madness
A truly terrifying realm
Devoid of light and sound
Into an eternal blackness
From which I’m sure
There would be no possible return
Would I ever touch down
Would I ever again meet ground
A muddy stew of things doomed
Way beyond all that I know
At the water’s edge
Is where I often stand
I’m as safe as I can be here
Like most who come this way
I stay upon the defined path
I don’t deviate steps
Cautiously I take each one
I don’t wish to stumble
And end up where I yet belong
I don’t wish to force fate
To violate the judgment of my case
I wish to live here upon the edge
Upon this path well traversed
I can of course wonder
I can of course imagine
What is down there
Way down in the swirling depths
Of a nothingness that no one
Most of all a man as heavy as me
Once embraced
Could ever hope to escape…


At The Water’s Edge
Written by Keaton Foster Copyright © 2014.