Being Safe

I should have stayed far from the shore only then would the tall wave not have flung me toward the sea floor and then would not have clutched at me and then would not have carried me far from the shore into the strange depths of the sea. I should have stayed far from the shore only then would the voice of the sea not have drawn me - like a magnet, iron filings - only then would I not have flung myself madly into the arms of the water’s throbbing. I: a handful of sand, a handful of grit, a particle of the shore ...