There’s a skylight right over my head
But the darkness pools, here in my bed
And I’m diving deep – searching for pearls
But I just keep on coming up empty.
I lay and wait for your key in the lock
For your ship to come into my dock
But the hours drift away and I’m down in the depths
Fruitlessly searching for pearls
Next I’m down on my knees
And I’m begging him, please!
Don’t go, just don’t sail away!
But my lifeline is cut, and I sink to the depths –
Chasing my scattering pearls…
Yet it should be him who is down on his knees
Thanking God for the moments with me
For a pearl diver comes only once in your life
So I turn and I swim for the light.
There are people who live
Up there in the light
But I’ve gradually lost my connections –
They stretched and they broke
As the pearl diver sank ever deeper.
Then he comes and the sunlight bursts inwards
And my world is complete for a while
And I thread one more pearl on my necklace
One more notch on the bedpost of life…
© Andrew Wilson, 2023
It’s Open Link night over at dVerse Poets Pub but as it is late here in England, I have dug out a previously unshown piece.
Written about a friend who was in an abusive relationship some years ago…