Lined up on the Edge

A six year old
not quite yet
at the age of reason
lines up
on the edge
of a bridge
over an Old Florida intracoastal waterway
and asks himself
is it safe?

He sees
Florida teens
hurling themselves
from the bridge
falling into the water
screaming on the way down
and thinks
if it’s safe for them
it’s safe for a human being
but he’s pretty sure
that as a person
given that he’s six years old
he thinks to himself
maybe I can’t be sure
and how can I really know
unless I dare

And so the leap of faith
is first made
in the heart
before the mind
and the age
of reason
can be one in which
we throw ourselves
over the edges
into wind swept water

Or
it could be something else
but being as
he is already airborne
the descent comes
with a sense
of the timeless
as if the muses do not speak to each other
but dance together
in mid air
and for his mother
he leaves behind
to her horror
two empty shoes
at the rail

And though he is falling
there is sense of calm
that envelopes him
as the wind
blasts through his hair
faster and faster
until impact

where
slowing down
through the dark water
he plungges
into the depths
for a moment
and stops
to look up
to the light
that shines
from the surface

He remembers
from a picture book
Earth as a pale blue dot
shimmering
against the dark
and ghostlike the light from above
reminds him
that the way is not
to the dark below
but to dog paddle up
and on to the shore
of the intracoastal waterway
where to the cheers of teenagers
a six year old learns
that fortune favors the brave