Poem for Sunday: Deep Depths

Katie Green's poem, 'Deep Depths', won the Year 8 Leonardo 2013 prize.

Dark waves crashed mercilessly

Against the jagged rocks below.

The almost inky black colour the only

Clue as to the fathomless depth below.

I had to jump.

I had to jump.

I would jump.

I WAS going to jump.

I had to jump.

She asked me if I could hear the music.

I could hear it,

Slow like a lullaby

Over and over in my head.

I should jump?

I shook my head,

Snapping myself out of the trance.

They mustn’t have it.

They would never have it.

I had to jump.

The woman held out her hands to me,

Inviting me.

But I could see the cruelty,

The evil in her eyes.

I had to jump.

I looked down at the precious little bundle in my arms.

So small, so unsuspecting,

Giving no clue as to the power it held as it

Snuggled closer into my arms against the biting wind.

I had to jump.

My babe.

My poor, poor babe.

Unashamed, tears streaked down my cheeks,

For the life it would never know.

I had to jump.

Drawing all my courage around me like a cloak,

I glared at the woman, who had haunted my dreams for years,

And knew that here, it would all end.

And then I was gone, flying through the air down to the freezing depths below.

I had jumped.

Flying,

Falling,

Tumbling.

Down, down until I broke the surface of the water,

And it drew me into a loving embrace as my vision blacked out.

I had jumped, and that set me free.

My eyes snapped open, alert.

I was on my feet in an instant,

Ready to defend the fragile life in my arms.

Around me was grey sky and black beach,

But I just saw hope.

I had jumped to set myself and my child free,

And now the nightmare was over,

And a new dawn arrived.

I had now jumped and now, at last, I was released.