Stranded

Here I am

Sitting away from them

Removed

From family

The people I’ve known all my life

Their voices reach me

Conversations I’m not part of

Partly by choice

Partly out of having no other choice

For I no longer feel

One with them

They

Sibling and mother

Are on mainland

And I

Stranded on an island

With rising water levels

And it blinds me when the sun

Hits it with force

The blade I used to

Cut the bridge made of rope

That connected us

Their hearts and mine

Blood bonds that are supposed to make us stronger

Not weaker

Not more afraid

Or angry

Not more unsure of life

And as I feel waves

Lap at my feet

I close my eyes

Wave goodbye

Silence their voices

Ignore the words that reach me

Of conversations I am not part of

Neither as participant nor topic

And unknown to them perhaps

Hopefully

I cut them from my heart

Thread by thread

Just like the blade

Sliced through the bridge made of ropes

That connected me to them

That connected this island of mine

To the safety of mainland