as a child they told me sadness
would come in waves like the ocean,
but all i ever got
was the occasional trickle of rain
from the holes in the ceiling.

it wasn’t until i grew up and learned
that sometimes sadness would hit me like a tsunami when i least expected it,
when i had responsibilities to take care of,
when i needed my emotional stability the most.

like a wave pool
sadness tossed me around
until i couldn’t see my feet through the water anymore,
until water filled my lungs like a pinata,
until it felt like everything i ever knew was drowning.

nobody warned me as a child
that sadness was not constant,
rather fluctuating like the rise and fall of the tides.