• I.

    I'm on the edge,
    living...
    breathing...
    close to falling...

    II.

    I can feel myself -
    teetering...close to
    exhaustion,
    close to escape.

    III.

    I realize that you are there,
    that you were just passing by.
    It took me a moment...
    to understand that you are
    on the edge
    just like me,
    and that you were there
    the whole time.

    IV.

    Swaying precariously,
    on the edge,
    we exchange pleasentries,
    the usual 'hellos',
    some background information
    on ourselves.

    V.

    You are older than me,
    just over twenty years my senior,
    but we can relate,
    in so many ways.

    VI.

    We talk...
    gradually, we become friends,
    and we both continue our discussions,
    both continue pretending that we're
    okay, that we aren't going to fall
    into the chasm below.

    VII.

    Then, one day, you stretch out your hand,
    reach for my hand,
    and entwine your fingers in mine...
    and you ask, with your eyes reflecting your need
    to be saved,
    "Will you pull me back before I fall?"
    I answer with a firm,
    "Yes,"
    and pull you back away from the edge.

    VIII.

    You have changed,
    but in a good way;
    your life has been saved by me,
    and I have prevented the
    tragedy that would have occured...
    and you are more alive than ever.

    IX.

    I look over the edge,
    and you talk to me as I wonder
    when I am going to fall...
    I heard things from my father
    that I wish I had never heard;
    gravity starts to tip me forward.

    X.

    Just as I am about to fall,
    you grab me and pull me back,
    taking me yards and yards away from the edge,
    from the precarious drop.
    "You are my friend; you saved me
    when I was going to fall,"
    you say, "and I love you...
    and I was here to save you before you dropped."