Sinking slowly at first

I kept myself afloat

For a good amount of time

 

I was offered plenty of hands

Voices screamed

“Here, grab onto me!”

 

I denied each and every hand

“No thank you, I can manage on my own”

Politely stubborn

 

With the rejection of each hand

A natural disaster was born in the distance.

At first I was drowning

But now

I was

Swept into the whirling winds of a tornado

Falling through the crumbling ground of an earthquake

Bathing in the lava of an unforgiving volcano

 

All the way, relentlessly claiming I was fine

 

When the desire for assistance

Finally hit my body

An avalanche of regret

Nags that it is too late

 

So I succumb to the darkness of the waters

The arm

The wrist

The hand

The fingers

The fingertips

The finger prints

All engulfed, one after another

All from the denial of relief

 

I know

That I am more than this

But they don't,

How could they?

I gave them no reason to believe.

 

Devoid of my identity

Now just another ripple in the water