I poured my life's blood
into the one who drank it
like a vampire, unrelenting
and remorseless.
He sucked my life away
until I was nothing more
than a pile of emptiness.
And then his ship (the one I built)
set sail and sailed away.

Oh yes, I took the bait
and like those sailors, drawn
by the alluring song of sirens,
I was hooked,
and I swam
and kept on swimming,
Stubbornly persisting
even as my muscles shook
with exhaustion,
and even as feared I'd lose my mind.
I swam... until I'd gone too far
and it was too late to turn back.
No strength to swim to safety
No way to get to shore.

Those promises of brighter days
and visions of treasure
stretched into eternity
It became a future I couldn't reach
and all I could do was let go
in an ocean of unshed tears.

Taken up by a furious surf
and dashed upon the rocks,
My limp body washed up on the shore,
burned up by the blazing sun,
until any flesh that was there,
was there no more.
And all that was left of me
was bleached bones
and an incandescent stain upon the sand.

And others knew my fate 
but not one person I'd ever helped
was there to rescue me.
To be fair, I didn't ask for help,
for fear that in my drowning
I'd pull them down
and they would drown with me.

© Chanti