Ocean

Poojah Ganesh

Broadcast Journalism Alumnus

Life is an ocean,

unclear but shallow,

deep enough

to engulf in.

Water is thick

yet, life is continuous,

flowing precariously

without a moment’s waste.

Purity is blinded

by the acid in clarity.

Silence is forgiven

in the arcane depths

of the floor.

Treading off-balance,

my feet are too wet,

too used to

the burn of salt.

The delectable waves

sweep me into

their arms,

cradling and taking me

further and further

from the

realm of unfathomable reality,

secretly taking me

far from where I

should be.

Away and away

I sway somberly

to nowhere.

Sometimes I am

lucky and sometimes

I escape the

hands of danger.

The water gets too

comfortable to sit in,

too mesmerizing to leave

that reality is just a

cloud above me.

Too high,

too unreachable.

Reality thunders down

on me,

casting dark shadows

and worries of the future.

At times I drift,

not knowing who or

where I am,

or even

when I will touch

the ground and be

able to swim in

this big ocean.

There are too many gaps,

but all over-filled with

the fears of life.

It feels like the air

is being sucked out of me.

It’s like

breathing vehemently

underwater where

it is clear

at the superficial condition,

but really unclear

in the inside.

The pressure builds

and builds like a

possessed force,

ready to consume me,

threatening to drag me

deeper and deeper

to the darkest

and scariest nadirs

of the ocean.

No way up.

Just down, down, down.

Life is no easy swim.

There are no

boats or vests

to hold me up

every time I slip

from the fingers

of picturesque illusions.

The ocean of life

becomes larger

and larger everyday

that sometimes,

I’m scared

I’ll drown.

Featured Photo Credit: Feature photo courtesy of Poojah Ganesh.