My body is my limit

My life is a tomb
A watery grave
Bellow there is darkness
Above there is light
And the ice is always present

I fight every day for the light
I struggle to the ice
I beat it with my bloody fist
I ignore the pain as best I can
Then I sink in tears
I float in agony
And let the darkness caress me

It would be so easy to stay
To float in the nothing of dark
To sleep forever in mild contentment
And to never rise again
To never fight the ice again
To never feel pain again

As I sink I dream of this
And the light touches me
And the voice calls again
"Come on!" I hear
My body shakes it's refusal
I'll not listen again

But something stirs above
Something beautiful
Something wonderful
Something joyful
And I find myself rocketing up
Kicking away from the darkness

The ice is solid
Exhausation pull muslce from my bones
The darkness seems so appealing
But I kick it away like a wounded dog
I rise to the ice
And I beat it again
My fist leaves blood trails in the water
Tears mix with sweat to soak my face
I push and push
The cracks break
The light streams in

"We're done," says my brother in frustration
and the ice is gone again
I slow to a march on the tred mill
And look at him with wounded pride
But the work out is finished
It's time to go home
Maybe I'll break the ice tomorrow
Before it breaks me