I wake up late in the day
And no sooner does the groginess leave me
That the cruelest of feelings rolls in like a wave
Pulling me under, leaving me with nothing but the bitter taste of tears on my tongue.

I reach out to those closest
Grasping at their encouraging words
But they slip through my fingers dissolving like sea foam
Self doubt tangles my legs like barbed kelp, cutting my skin and holding me under.

And then the sharks come
The sharks that swim in the dark
They've come from the deepest trenches of my mind
Drawn by the scent of blood into the temperate waters where I swim, my loathing sinks in its teeth.

How can I explain
The surface is a barrier I've created
People can see the blood, but they can't hear me screaming
As my insides are torn to shreds by predators circling me in a frenzy, invisible to them but so real to me.