Lifted

The three.
All dark, but powerful ones
They dwelt in the waters of Gala Shaylon.
Protectors of things that swam in the deep
Shadows of Shalyon and creatures that sleep.
Trespassers and anglers that hunt on the shore
They draw to the water and drag to the floor.
So sisters they are and so madly cursed
Though swimming eternal, forever they thirst.
To break from their chains and flee from their doubt
They wait for a hand to pull all three out.
"Perhaps, he, a soldier," "perhaps, she, a maid"
They guess of their savior, who nearby might wade.
One night they sank to the mud and the slime
Attempting to scub off the browish-green grime.
Then spotting two feet of a small, well-dressed girl
Forgave her her presence as she started to twirl.
She smiled and she laughed as she splashed in her shoes
Then looking straight down, she seemed so ammused.
The moment she waved, she startled the three
And reached her hand down to then set them free.
The two looked at one, the one looked at two.
"Oh no, my dear sister! What should we do?
She surely can't lift three with such little arms!"
"And what if, in our greed, we cause her harm?"
They still stared above, to the girl with her smile
One said, "She may leave in just a short while."
"I'll promise I'll let go if she starts to drown."
Impatiently, the small girl put on a small frown.
So one sister, brave, reached up from the sand
And set her fingers in the one small girl's hand.
She latched the child's hand in a firm, gentle hold
With a strange, strong tug the sweet child pulled.
With head out of water she coughed out the air
She gagged, tried to breathe and shook out her hair
It pained her to breathe in the air very dry
And coughing out water she started to cry.
In pain and in anger she managed to shout
"Why, stupid girl, would you dare pull me out?"
Girl looked at sister and grimaced some more
As the sister laid broken and strewn on the shore
"You wanted your freedom, dismissing all pain?
But if I'd not come by, then what would you gain?"
She crouched in the mud and touched sister's face
"You say that I hurt you, but that's not the case.
I came here before--you were to deep down to see
that I saw your distress, and I heard your plea.
The breathing will get better, with much less pain than now.
And walking will take time to learn, but I will teach you how."
Tears began to well up in the little girl's blue eyes
Small sobs of a hurt child came out but her face remained so wise
"But if you want the pain done now and wish to slip back down
I will not hold or stop you here, I will not make a sound.
You'll go back to your sisters and in the darkness be
And when you think of pain again, you'll likely forget me.
But please don't drown again! Come learn to walk with me.
I promise that the pain is worth a new life being free."
The sweet girl looked so hopeful, she spoke her words so well,
But burning in the sister's throat right then began to swell.
She thrashed he muddy body and clawed hard at the sand
But thought about her freedom and reach for the girl's hand.
"Though I had been drowned, I'd never thirsted more
than for freedom out of our reach, found only on this shore.
I'll bear the pain to breathe, then lift my sisters too
And when they come I'll tell them that we'll live up here with you."
The child beamed right through her tears, the sister began to see
That the pain equalled the joy she felt to finally be set free.
And we, too, feel the pain from life through fear and hate and sin
But if we reach up from the dark we can be freed by Him.