On Water (Guest poem by Hannah Pasz)

I love the water

The way it flows to its own rhythm

Unbothered by the world around it

To be true, I envy water

When I was a kid, I loved baths

The bubbles

To be true, I wished to never get out

Just maybe

If I stayed in the bath long enough

I could become a mermaid

And live in the water

Now I’m older

What once was childlike wonder

Is now optimism 

But who has time for that in the pressure pushing world?

Instead of swimming

I tan

Instead of pretending

I watch movies and watch while others pretend

Instead of dreaming

I scroll

So scared of being embarrassed in front of my peers

I swim over

To the appealing world of grownups

But the grownups stare across the ocean

Wishing they could swim back time

As I kick across the ocean

My mermaid tail fades

Into the trendiest sandals

And as I step onto the new land

I look into the water

I see myself waving goodbye

My old self 

I used to love the water