Sometimes, I feel like a lump of coal
under all sorts of pressure.
The pressure intensifying,
continuously building up,
to where I doubt I can handle it.
While I desperately push forward
trying to adapt and survive,
I am weighed down by
chains of doubt and insecurity.
Oppressed in ******* by my own mind,
no exodus, no escape.
All those miles, conditioning I did
only to fall into a pit of darkness,
losing myself in the abyss.
Chained down, pressure equivalent to anvils
dragging me farther and farther,
I can barely see the light above,
only a fragile glimmer of hope left.
Nature has provided me tools
to fashion a ladder,
for there is no "quick fix" for escape.
You have to take one step at a time.
So while I feel like coal now,
maybe one day I can transform
and become a diamond.  
But, God, why must the
ladder seem so long?