My Life of Quicksand

I first stepped into the quicksand When I was only twenty-one My girlfriend missed two cycles My college years were not yet done I doubled up on my courses While working late into the night And started sinking into the quagmire Cuddling my daughter nice and tight I sunk into it even deeper When two sons then came along A house with a mortgage Credit cards to pay the throng My job became an anchor Adding weight to my sinking ship But instead of calling out for help I simply bit my bleeding lip Muck was up to my neck When college tuitions came pouring in But I knew, for my children, To do less would be a sin My loved ones standing near me Didn’t seem to notice me disappear Suffocating in the deluge Was my most horrific fear When my head was finally covered And my world went dark as night I heard sounds of a helicopter I heard beeping and saw a light The doctor who woke me up Said, “You had a heart attack You must climb out of the quicksand If you want your life to come back” Then I learned to see the joy In what I thought was ballast weight I learned to share some of my burdens And not carry them all upon my plate I learned how to reach my hand out To other hands that were always there And I left my life of quicksand Burying within it all despair