the shallows

Unaware of the deeps
  beyond the pristine circle of sand
the children play in the shallows…

three, four, five and six, they cannot see
  the future with its ripples and undertows—
the lurking heartbreaks, the engulfing diseases.

They count on the grown-ups to keep
  all these dangers at bay….grown-ups barely able
to keep their heads above water themselves.

Liz McFadzean