Shallow Deeps

 As a child, there was always a rule.

The order to stay at the shallow end of the pool.
But all the childish dreams were to swim deep.
Free as a fish and searching for treasures to keep.

To grasp those dreams would be a deathly dare.
One looked upon by mother’s disapproving stare.
We learn to handle it the deeper we go
Soon, our parent’s cannot tell us, “No.”

Then why is it when we finally reach our goals
We start straying back to the shallow bowl
Do we grow too tired of treading to even learn to float?
Or do we grow to fear a deep, evil moat?

We only stay with what’s easy and sure
But we’ll never, that way, find what we’re looking for.
You’d rather stay safe and be the watcher of another.
A risk-taker that swam deep and found felicity underwater.

You’ll come to regret not venturing deep, too.
You’ll watch your treasure leave in hands not attached to you.
I’ll swim without you, ready to swim deep.
Searching for a love so precious; it must be something to keep.