Abby the Stabby - 4

An ocean of tears in a turbluent storm

Made of her torment, the sky green and warm

As wave after wave has her choking and sinking

(The salt stings her eyes and the noise hurts her thinking)

'There must be a way out -- there's got to be land,

But what if there isn't? I don't understand

Where I am, or what's happening, or what I'm to do --

I don't have a boat, or a map, or a clue...

Oh, how I wish I were home with my kitty,

I'd dress us in ribbons and make us look pretty, 

Brush her soft fur with the gentlest touch

Stroke her and pet her (just shy of too much),

Drift off to sleep, curled up in a ball,

Free of all worries, not troubled at all,

But instead of all that, there's this horrible dream

Or nightmare... I'm not sure. Oh, how I could scream!'

And all of a sudden, way off in the mist

She spies a soft light that seems to exist

Just over there, if she could just reach

(Wishing this ocean included a beach)...

Swimming toward it (an inch at a time),

She picks up a tiny voice speaking in rhyme: 

Squeaking its rhythm with mousy refrain,

No drama or tension, just simple and plain:

"Twinkle, twinkle, little whelp,

Scream your face off, call for help,

Struggle, flail and thrash around,

And soon you'll find that you've been drowned.

Calm your breathing, cool your jets,

Quiet down and hedge your bets --

Keep your head, and by and by

Soon enough you'll see the sky."

Abby takes in the sagacious advice, 

Repeats the verse in her head once (then twice),

Slows down her breathing and treads in the deep

(Exhausted, and frightened that she'll fall asleep),

"But what if I'm sleeping, and already dreaming

(For if not, I fear that I might resume screaming) --

I have to keep going, though barely alive,

Fight through the pain, and somehow survive,

And who cries this much? How very obnoxious

(What I wouldn't give for a pair of galoshes)!"

Steeped in her sorrow, up to her eyes,

Abigail floats in the darkness and cries:

"What is this place? What is it about?

I do not like it at all -- let me out!"

Hours she floats there alone in the sea,

Wondering, "Oh, what shall happen to me?"

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- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.

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- © Jackson Cambridge, 2016.