Drowning
When I was in junior high or high school I memorized this one, I think it was in high school. I remember reading it and feeling a connection to the dead man in the poem. I too felt that my interactions with other people left me feeling too cold always, and that through life I have been drowning in misunderstanding. I like how this poem says so simply and with so few words so very very much. May we in life swim out to those who are drowning and not ignore them thinking their struggles are just them waving from afar.
Not Waving But Drowning
by Stevie Smith
Nobody heard him, the dead man,
But still he lay moaning:
I was much further out than you thought
And not waving but drowning.
Poor chap, he always loved larking
And now he's dead
It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,
They said.
Oh, no no no, it was too cold always
(Still the dead one lay moaning)
I was much too far out all my life
And not waving but drowning.