Love is an Island

awash in a sea of turmoil
lifes waves crashing over me
the depths of my problems dragging me down
shark people circling baring their teeth
fins of malice and rejection
drowning with every breath
foul brine from tears never shed
dying for want of substance
needing to cling if only for a while
to see some hope of salvation
yet all my flares are spent

all around me people appear rescued
and I wave away the offered calloused hands
searching whilst dying
for an island
somewhere in the sun
not a different sea
and there beyond the breakers
a vision of possibility
as the rocks tear my soul
and I wash up on the beach
dead and yet still breathing

awakenings within me
feel the warmth of sunshine
heeling my mind for a while
as the waves crash noisy all around
and yet a tranquil place
surf ignored as I touch the ground
and then cling to the solitary palm
the fronds brush my face
and the fruits sustain
she offers shade from the heat
and a comfortable solid something

and then the waves come again
and drag me back
into lifes turmoil
the pain and agony of drowning
the helplessness of swimming
through the stinging jellyfish
and the poison barbs of the so pretty
and so very deadly lionfish
and as the depths beckon again
and the sharks close in
I escape in my mind to my Island

love is like an island
somewhere to dream of
somewhere to escape to
somewhere to be you
somewhere you are accepted
just for being you
somewhere hope lives
somewhere to be safe and warm
somewhere to give of yourself
freely given
not torn away by the seas of life