Salt

• Ciara Blum, Grade 11, Lindisfarne Anglican Grammar School - Senior School
• Poetry
• 2017

Excellence Award in the 'Spread The Word 2017' competition

She tried to explain what it felt like, that day;
When she became victim to her very own brain.
Kind of like drowning, she explained, but they’d never understand—
For no-one had seen that girl vacate the land.
Solid ground was no longer felt by her feet;
She was subject to the uncertain rage of the sea.
There was no point in trying to locate the shore;
Swimming just made all the monsters scream more.
She grew used to the absence of heat on her skin;
She stopped fighting once she realised she would never win.
She gave in to the monsters that grabbed at her feet—
She lost sight of the surface; she was lost far beneath.
So, she learnt to go on without touching the ground;
She accepted the darkness of the home she had found.
She lost faith in the human potential to feel;
If you can’t feel the pain, then it mustn’t be real.