“Her Fall”

http://www.layoutsparks.com/1/78508/girl-falling-edge-cliff.html    

I held your tiny hand, tugged you away from danger      

            carried you safely to the other side      

I protected you from water’s edge and ocean’s undertow—        

            the drowning tears of your uncertainties      

I watched from the sidelines as you changed—       

dwindling into someone I no longer recognized      

Now, dismay burdens me,        

cements me in place as you scale the precipice      

I call out, “Don’t! Turn back! Wait for me!”      

            as your compulsion drives you higher, higher      

I perceive the cracks in your mask      

            even as you disillusion those who still believe in you         

I reach futilely skyward, my feet anchored in place,      

            unable to halt your ascent over crumbling rock       

I try, and try again, to guide you to sure footing          

            but you ignore my words, indulging in illusions of independence      

I weep, a witness to your self-destruction,        

as your frailties and obsessions force your fall         

Copyright 2011 Elizabeth Abrams Chapman