Metaphor

This rejection infection, this painful disease,
These damaging thoughts like stings of bees,
Words that are said, so many more not,
Their interpretations are all I have got,
Helpless friends wait in the wings,
Trying to think of encouraging things,
All the old sayings, all the old quotes,
I'm a drowning man amongst hundreds of boats,
Their decks are too high, no one has a rope,
They'd really like to help but they're sure I can cope,
"Just keep on swimming, try and hang on,
You should find a shore before too long,"
But there's no sight of land, no beach, no reef,
I'm floating away like an autumn leaf,
Will the tide change, will I find what I seek?
The future just looks; Cold, Dark and Bleak,
My mind's full of fire, frustration and worse,
What did I do to deserve such a curse?

Now I'm a runner in a marathon race,
I've fallen back not kept up the pace,
I so want to stop, collapse and rest,
At the same time I know this is some kind of test,
I must get to the end, prove my will is strong,
But this race has been going on too long,
The breaks have been short, the water impure,
For this terrible thirst there is no easy cure,
My muscles are aching, blisters burst on my feet,
Load in my ears is my pounding heartbeat,
The slightest of inclines and I start to slow,
I stumble and falter but on I must go,
Then all of a sudden something inside me dies,
I fall to the ground, from my mouth comes the cries,
And out on the sea the leaf will soon sink,
The seabed is littered with these I should think.