Tread Water

When was life calm? Not before we escaped
from everyone around us, their brooding
glances - jealousy ill-hidden in eyes
wild with want and shame and lust for our life.
I wish I could speak to them, let them know
we, too, have our storms unabated, fear
that dances in the pit of our stomachs
hoping to overcome this joy we find
wrapped in the tenuous embrace of love.
Our own Kraken follows us in shadows,
waits to sacrifice us against the rocks -
and we can be swept away in high tide
just as easily as they, but we swim
and tread water, make landfall, and escape.