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You rolled into my life gently
Your warm, shimmering tide
Tumble-fumbling over my shoreline
Sweet and innocuous

Me, seaside, golden and sandy
Face towards the sun
Its warmth filling me
As it always had
Full of hope and faith and innocence

I barely noticed when the tide got rougher
Silent undertows
Sucking me out to sea
No one knew but me
And you
Of course

I alone was drowning
Water burning my throat and eyes
Every time I slipped under
You smiling, all the while asserting
Riptides aren't real

It didn't really bother me
Your indifference, your lies
I held so much sun inside
Besides,
Some mornings the sea was still, gentle
Wet, salty, persistent
Ebbing, unassuming streams through sand
Luring me out of the shallows

But then the storms came
When I wasn't looking

And deluge after deluge it took for me to realize
The tides had changed
The water was getting colder
And my shoreline was eroding
Morning by morning

You thought you could wash me away
Steal my sunshine like it belonged to you
Let the waves overtake me
Drown me in the sea
While you watched, gloating

But beneath me, all along
Were depths you knew nothing of
Your waves won’t toss me
Roll me under, drown me
I am grown now
And I dance in these tides

Mysterious, unwavering
Gentle and fierce

Does it surprise you that I’m still here?
Face towards the sun
Full of warmth and hope and optimism?
Despite you

Crushing waves, brazen thunder
Silent riptides
All relentless
I defied them all
Clung to whatever wreckage I could find

Until finally I realized
My banks run deeper
Than the tempests you sent to destroy me

You never fathomed the depths of my shoreline
or
My soul