Her head
Was like a swimming pool.
Filled with an ocean of thoughts.
Often she sat above
And watched the water
Quietly lapping.
Suppressed thoughts.
Controlled.
Contained.
Until the darkness looms.
And a storm brews.
The cold, howling wind.
A deluge of icy raindrops
Piercing her skin.
Creating nothing less than a flood.
Until she is forced underwater
Silently screaming.
But no one can hear her,
Drowning in the contents of her own mind.
At night,
Shrouded in the darkness,
She is safe.
For it is easy
Once the storm calms,
To fall asleep.
The day storms are the worst.
When everyone else can see.
An unexpected storm
That pushes her into the water,
Her overflowing sea of thoughts.
Coughing and spluttering.
Sudden inundation.
Sinking to the bottom of the pool.
No longer able to hear,
Or see.
No longer aware
Of anything above,
Anything around her.
Everything muffled.
Everything a blur.
She struggles to arise.
Battles with the pressure.
But even once she has escaped
The wrath of her thoughts pool.
Her clothes are still dripping,
Her hair still wet.
Her body still weighed down.
By the burden
That is her own mind.
Lauren Kathleen 