Survivor

Come back

And feel that first sign of movement 

where pin-needles and daggers prick

places once rendered numb or discarded. 

Take the first blink

When your eyes cut from a long empty stare and 

sharpen upon territory for which rods and cones 

feel unqualified.

Open your throat

For a deep, staccatoed breath 

that comes after the lungs have emptied and stayed silent and still,

pretending to play dead.

Wake up!

Listen.  And feel yourself shaking awake.

Wake up!

     You are not dead. 

You are found.

Your eyes are blinking,

Your chest is heaving,

The sun is on your face,

Your cheek is on the sand.

Wake up!

And let your heart pound up against you, to tell you that you are alive.

Breathe

And let your lungs draw in the wind, deep, and move you like a sail
back to your feet.

Stand in the place you are found and then

Walk, courageously, along the tide that took you

     and returned you.