Smooth, edging along the chasm
Tripping once, slightly
Then getting a toe caught
Then a cramp
Tipping over the drop,
Wondering, “How deep is it?”
And “How hard will I land,
If I land at all?”
And “How much will it hurt?”
Will I break any bones?”
And maybe “What about my family?”
“They won’t know”
And “What will they do without me?”
Keeping cool, dragging the other toe
Frantically searching for a crevice
A bulge, something to hold on to.
Anything!
Gravity starts to do its work
On the body,
And dread pulls down the soul.
“Will there be a tomorrow?”
And then a slip, and another
It all happens in a second
Head dips below knees,
Then below the feet
Into nothing,
Nowhere,
Emptiness.
Panic.
Suddenly,
The desperate fingers catch
On a bit of rock
Along the cliff wall.
The brisk descent
Starts to slow.
Dangling for a moment,
Then the feet catch.
Seized by relief,
Even if temporary,
Darting a glance
To the left, then the right.
How did I get to this place
In my life?
How did I abandon
Everyone and everything
Around and underneath me?
Stumbling along the sidewalk 
Absolutely loved this…I found myself in a chasm a few years ago and wondered the same thing: how did I get here? God is good…He was the solid toehold I was able to stand on as His forgiveness hoisted me up again.
Thanks for your warm comments, and I’m glad you can relate. Not glad you were in a chasm, but I think most of us find ourselves in one chasm or another at least once, if not many times, in our lives. I have been in chasms off and on my whole life. I have bipolar disorder, so wrestling with that and keeping stable in my life has been quite a chore, and I have needed a lot of help from a lot of directions to make it to where I am now. Chasms are always waiting to swallow us up, if we are only ready and willing to go near them, and as humans, with our death instinct in the fore in a lot of the simple and not so simple choices we make each and every day, we do near them, and some times we go down them, exploring at first out of curiousity perhaps, but they are seductive, and sometimes mesmerizing, and sometimes addictive. Chasms are just part of life, I’m afraid. Maturing as a person and to borrow a term from a friend, “spiritually sojourning” we do gain wisdom along the way. But chasms will always be there, calling our name. Thanks again.
gsb3
“Chasms are always waiting to swallow us up…calling our name.”
Indeed.
Thanks for the reply…I’ll be looking forward to reading future posts.