When we’re born we’re floating free
Swimming carefree in the sea
There is our appointed place
High up in the watery space

When we’re hurt we need a shell
To hide in when things don’t go well
Experience is hard like stone
Like bits of stick or broken bone

We collect and stick them all
Close around us like a ball
Thinking they may keep us safe
But all they do is gall and chafe

For they constrict and drag us down
Where on the bottom we may drown
The more things hurt the more we hide
To try and keep us safe inside

So we construct these strong defences
Fashioned from experiences
Pains and hurts that life supplied
Hardened and solidified

Sometimes we may be incited
And we may become excited
And try to swim free as before
But soon we’re dragged back to the floor

Upon the bottom of the sea
Anchored there by gravity
All the pains and scars we bear
They weigh us down and hold us there

Consider though how it would be
If  we once more were swimming free
Out in the open all exposed
Where could we run when threats were posed?

Back to the bottom we would flee
Seeking there security
We’d leave the fears from which we fled
Retrieve our shells And So To Bed

Upon that sea bed we would hide
In amongst the things that died
For we would know, we would be sure
That there at last we’d feel secure

Burrow deep and settle down
And let the mud become your gown
The sea bed will your bolster be
Upon the bottom of that sea 

So we take each little piece
We work and work and never cease
We seal it all to leave no doubt
There’s no way in and no way out

So now we know we have to stay
There is no way to get away
No way to swim or drift or glide
Just hug the bottom here and hide