I was battered and broken,
falling into the sea of the long gone.
Even though I told them I could swim, I got tired.
Every part of me hurt intensely,
I didn't think I could carry on.
So many people told me I could swim when I only thought I'd drown.  
No land was in sight,
but for the sake of others,
I forced myself to harsh breaths and staggered strokes.  
I swam long and far,
barely surviving off of what others needed of me.
Until I found the edge of the sea.
I couldn't believe that I had actually made it,
I found that I survived.
It was small to say that I hadn't drowned,
but it was after that, I thrived.