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Stranded

The salty smell of brine invades my nostrils
The chilling wind lashes at my face
But the emptiness and desolation haunt my soul;
I am stranded, lost - forgotten

They took me with them on their voyage
They set out together, united and ambitious
But when they deemed me unnecessary
They tipped me toward oblivion

So now I wait in silence and solitude
In the midst of icy waters, shivering,
Drifting with the current like deadwood,
Left alone to contemplate my regrets

My eyelids grow heavy and faint now
From the searing saltwater assaulting them
And though I am weak and weary,
I have slept unaware for too long

And I think, "Perhaps I deserved this?
Perhaps I am meant to be deserted,
Degraded, dejected, devastated?
Perhaps my actions are dispensible?"

I regress back into my own cognition,
Wondering if I’d ever made a difference
In the lives of many, or few, or none,
Through kind words or caring feelings

The saline seawater has numbed my tongue
The frigid temperature has frozen my hands
But I still cleave to my hope, my prayer:
"Perhaps someone may yet need me one day..."

-Ari Gilder, 12/25/02

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