Breathing Underwater

Eraritjaritjaka- The desperate looking for something that is lost.

It was Summer when I lost my mind.

That's such a funny expression, to lose one's mind, as if it's something you have only misplaced and will turn up sooner or later.

But, sometimes it doesn't.

The kids who have misplaced their minds wander through your halls and empty streets

and crowded bus stations

Surrounded, yet alone.

You see them with their heads down as if they could find their mind laying on the floor somewhere wherever they dropped it.

They walk fast,

frantically,

searching.

They scream and cry out, but no one hears.

They breathe underwater, as the tides rip and thrash and tear their clothes,

their souls,

leaving scars and bruises.

Their faces are chipped,

their eyes crack and spill over

yet they search on.

It was Summer when I lost my mind.

Luckily, it turned up somewhere outside the atmosphere,

After years of eraritjaritjaka.

Others aren't so lucky.

This one's for the kids whose lungs are filled with water and burn from the strain of breathing in and out one more day.

This one's for the kids who can no longer hear me,

who cover up with stars because they found this place

Uninhabitable

and Treacherous

and Cruel.

This one's for the kids still searching.

Don't give up.