Inundated

Inundated

...an ode in two parts...

Part 1

When I'm overwhelmed,
I notice my wife is bewildered
by the incomplete thoughts
spilling out of my mouth
in seemingly random phrases.

Often it's just a song verse
triggered by something I heard,
or maybe it's my loyal soldier
trying to devise an escape
from this demanding moment.

Part 2

I tell you sincerely,
nothing is more seductive to me
than to be free of all responsibility.

But I know just as well,
commitment is my salvation,
even when it feels like a wet blanket.

I like being asked to help.
I like being asked to participate.
Yet sometimes just the asking
drowns me in a sea of yeses.

So how does a drowning man
get back to shore and dry land?

He follows the bubbles to the surface,
then allows the current to carry him.

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The individual has always had to struggle
to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe.
If you try it, you will be lonely often,
and sometimes frightened.
But no price is too high to pay
for the privilege of owning yourself.
~ Friedrich Nietzsche

You can't write if you can’t relate
Trade the cash for the beat for the body for the heat
And my time is a piece of wax falling on a termite
Who's choking on the splinters
~ Beck Hansen
(excerpted from Loser)

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