The world started to end when we hit the ice berg
Such a little thing
Barely a rock of the boat, really
No one noticed the crack in the hull
The water filling the rooms below.
Or, maybe we did
Just called for the band to play
To continue dancing
Even as the hair on the back of our necks raised
Everything will be fine.
"Everything will be fine"
We say this as there's another rock of the boat
Another groan from below.
We say we're going to be okay like a mantra
While divvying up life vests
And counting the people the would fit in the boats
Women and children first!
Take the most vulnerable
They're always the first to go.
The first to hear the groaning of metal creaking and the cracking
To feel the water dampening their shoes and climbing up their pant legs
While the rest of us continue to dance.
It's too late for that
As I'm treading water
Searching for a scrap of wood
A life boat
Anything to help keep my head above water
I heard the ship groan in the night
As pieces collapse in the icy water.
I did everything right
I ignored the piles of student debt
The recession indicators
The headlines of mass layoffs used to wrap the fish and chips I ate on deck
I feel so stupid now
Fingers numb from the cold water
I keep treading
Working three jobs
While going back to school
Applying to jobs that disappear the next week
Count my pennies
Save my coupons
For the week's trip to the grocery store
I keep treading water
Watching the rents
Begging my legs not to give out
Searching for a light swinging from a life boat
Believing that even though I ignored the creaks
And the groans
Oblivious to the iceberg that cracked the greatest ship
Danced while the band played until they too clambered into the life boats
I hope to survive this
To be unsinkable
Like Molly Brown.
