We let life pull us down by our ankles into the shadowy depths of uncertainty

While we pull ourselves up by our bootstraps

Trying to stay afloat

Trying to get better

 

The raft to which we cling is broken

Bent

Not sturdy

Unstable

Our efforts are spent

Trying to delve to the heart of the matter

Not realizing

Our search for oxygen led us to drown.

 

Even lifeguards can drown

In this world where irony is king

Where love says to you

“Have a nice swim”

After fastening chains to your feet

Then watches as your last bubbles of air ascend to the surface

 

And you wait

For asphyxia to take hold

 

A final goodbye

Uttered with the last waning semblance of consciousness

Embracing an end

 

A simple death would be preferred,

But alas,

Life cannot grant a request as simple as that.

And so life drags you back by your bootstraps

Breathes sour sorrow back into your lungs

Smiling with speech slathered in sarcasm

“I saved you from the waves”

 

The lesson to be derived:

Our bootstraps are visible

To all but ourselves.

It takes an outside party to make sense of the depths.

 

But the decision remains your own.

Do you accept an outstretched arm

And with it, a distorted reality,

Or do you venture into a fleeting possibility?

 

Can you make use of the world’s logic?

Can you discern truth

From the warped fun house mirrors

Feeding you lies?

Can you choose life

Though the only anchor to this earth

Is but a body

With a void where a soul should be?

 

You cannot—

Not alone

 

But choose life you must.

Else life will choose for you.

And death will cease to be a pleasantry.

 

When we can no longer bear this world,

When our demons seem to have strengthened their hold

We cannot give in,

For this world was never ours to rescind

 

We must push on

Through the terror and strife

That we cannot endure alone.

We must find another—

A friend

Who will hold a candle

As we cut down the vines

And blaze a path of truth

Among a jungle of lies

 

We need a friend who will provide light in this perpetual night.

 

That friendly heart

Beating in tune with the heavy pulse

Echoing throughout our empty corpse

Is enough to drive our survival

For maybe just one day more.