You Are The Ocean, And I Got Lost In You

You are the ocean.

It began with an enticing view, a warm breeze wrapping innocently around me, inviting me to dip a toe in, test your waters.
Go ahead, smell the sea.
The taste of salt danced on my tongue. 
But instead of gradually adjusting to the waters – the intensity of the temperature and the force of your waves – I found myself drowning in the tidal wave of you.
I was caught up, tumbling in your undertow, and I lost my breath.
I couldn’t find the surface so I embraced the darkness, the directionlessness of it all. I didn’t care which way was up.

As time passed your tide pulled me in again and again:

I love you, I love you, I love you,
beating me against the shore.
I drowned in your affection.

You filled me until I was empty of myself, a shell.
Listen closely enough, press an ear to me, and all that could be heard were the roaring sounds and thoughts of you.

My insatiable thirst for you, the undrinkable sea, was all-consuming.
I was surrounded by your endless water, without a drop to drink.

You threw me against the coral and the rocks, scraping me and leaving me bloody.
Tentacles reached around my throat and grabbed hold of my heart, nearly suffocating me.

My eyes still burn from the salt that remains – of your existence, of my tears.

With greater depth came heavier pressure until all I could hear was the deafening silence of you.

You almost crushed me, but, somehow, I spotted the sunlight.
I broke the surface, gasping for life, and found that your current had pulled me to a place I had never been. A place I needed to be.

My lungs are stronger now, with a greater capacity for the sweet air that is so soul-renewing.

At last, I can breathe again.

As I drag myself back onto the warm sand, chest heaving and hair dripping, I rub my red eyes and glance back at the ocean.

It is still the most beautiful sight.
As my gulps of air slow to breaths, I cannot help but marvel.
I turn to leave, battered and shaken, but I am not broken. 
Strengthened by the whirlpools and polished by the sands, I have become a powerful swimmer,
changed forever by my plunge into you.