when depression felt like drowning

Floating comes naturally

But when something takes hold and gradually drags you deep beneath the waves and tosses you to the mercy of the rushing current,

You have to swim

You have to kick and claw at the surrounding water and rise

And as you tire, you may rest

And as you rest, you may appear to be floating

Until your lungs threaten to burst and your throat burns as you suck in seawater, believing briefly in the guise of refracted sunlight that it was air, until then

You may appear to be floating

And so you kick, and you claw, and you climb

You shed tears and masks of salt that make you buoyant until you break the surface

And naturally

You float