Ocean of Thoughts

A dark ocean,

deeper than eyes can see.

Mysteries filling the emptiness below.

The mind wanders.

Thoughts, suffocatingly real,

replay over and over again.

What about the mysteries there?

The unknown horrors that live within?

Are those mysteries as real as the creatures that lurk in the water?

Are those thoughts as dark as the water that no eyes can see through?

They go unrecognized by others.

Friends and family pass by, 

unfazed by the thoughts they can’t hear.

Help. 

The thoughts cry out.

The questions that long to be answered.

The pictures that are desperate to be erased.

Help.

Once again the thoughts beg to be silenced. 

How? 

How do you silence the thoughts that won’t go away?

Do you talk about them?

Do you describe the vivid flashbacks that keep you up at night?

And what do you do when that doesn’t work?

When all else has failed and there’s nothing left to lean back on? 

You do the only thing you can do to turn down the noise and make everything stop. 

You risk losing the little sanity you have left to try and hold on a little longer. 

You fill your cup one more time,

you take a sip and try to forget.

You put on a pretty smile,

and you watch yourself fade away.