When Life Pulls You Down... Poem by Aarti Mehra

It’s been a while
Since I sat down and wrote
The pen’s been away
As I trash about to stay afloat

When life pulls you down
Deep beneath sea level
The world seems quiet
You hear neither bass nor treble

Just the thoughts in your head
That you seem to get all wrong
They scream out ‘you’re weak’
While you struggle to be strong

And then that pit in your stomach
Crying out for a hand
That’ll pull you out of the water
The arm that’ll hold you and help you stand

But you know that’s just a dream
You’ve got to escape on your own
So get your act together
Be prepared to swim alone

Put your feet to that ocean floor
Shut your eyes- you’re ready
Then kick- like you’ve never kicked
Take-off and swim steady

You’ll get there
You’ll soon be ashore
And then comes the infinite land
And once again you’re afraid... like you’ve never been before…