did you know. (another take on the "did you know" prompt)

 did you know

that you'd sit 

spiraling 

over the past

like an ice fisherman 

perched atop a bucket

overlooking a small hole 

you carved into the ice 

peering into what's turned to ice

to see what life 

might still exist beneath. 

no fishing pole insight. 

you'd hate for the world 

to know

you're still here 

curious what you might catch 

looking back, looking down. 

except, when they say, look within, 

they don't specify, always, do they? 

sometimes within can mean without

to a mind not ready to move on. 

maybe the lake never thaws. 

maybe the ice always stays. 

maybe you learn to accept 

when you're searching for something to quench the longing 

of how things used to be,

when you ask for water, sometimes you get ice. 

and you laugh, 

when they say, 

be like water. 

because you know what they mean, 

be fluid, keep moving, 

but did you know, 

sometimes, 

before we are water, 

we are ice.