Save You! ! Poem by Becky Ginn

If you saw somebody drowning,
Isn’t it just instinct to jump in and save them?
First you might freeze, and sometimes you might not even know how to swim
Sometimes, you feel as though you don’t have the strength
To hold even your own head above the water
But still
You find yourself diving headfirst, and headlong
Into fathomless depths, and dark churning waters
To reach out for who is suddenly the only person that matters to you
The only life you want to save
And it wouldn’t matter if you died doing it
You could sink to the bottom with a smile
That’s sort of how it is when someone’s hurting
When you see them thrashing about in the waters of their eyes
When the words ‘Help Me’ are never said, but always hinted
Always expressed in the way she won’t look at you
In the way she’s suddenly folded into herself
In the way that just by being with her, you feel like you’re the only one that can reach out and touch her, the only one who can save her
That she’ll only listen to you, and that is your job
Saving people from burning buildings, fighting fires
And if you don’t do that job properly
It’s not a case of retracting harsh words;
People die! ! !