Siren

I can’t find you. Can I swim
To you? If I can’t
I’m doomed to a slower end,
Not a better one.

That’s what it means to be saved,
What it means to save a life
In this world. You’ve postponed death.

The boy who survived Auschwitz
Killed by burglars at ninety.
True story. The couple left
The scene of the spree killing

Alive who died in a crash
Two weeks later. True story.
The attempted suicide

Who leapt from the bridge
And woke in the hospital,
Becoming a crusader
For suicide prevention,

Obit says died of cancer.
I know I sound like the beast
Who knows the end of life’s near,

Who’s resisting the knowledge
As much as the death.
I wish I could swim to you.