Tori Taylor Poet Free verse

COPE

COPE
(of a person) deal effectively with something difficult.

It sounds simple, doesn’t it? To cope — to deal with something effectively. But what if coping takes everything you have? What if, by the end of the day, those two small words — to cope — mean something entirely different to you?
What if to cope means to survive??To stay alive.?To keep from drowning in an ocean made of everything and nothing all at once.?To lay down at night and whisper to yourself that it’s okay — that all you did today was cope. That you’re still here.
Because some people fight to stay alive,?while others fight not to die.
It sounds the same. It sounds as easy as breathing.?Breathing — the very first thing you do in life,?But somewhere along the way, breathing turned into coping,?and coping turned into nothing at all.
So maybe to cope really does mean to deal with something difficult.?To stay alive.?To breathe, even when it hurts.
Because sometimes coping does hurt. Everywhere.?It aches in places you didn’t know could ache.?And maybe that’s the cost of learning how to survive —?to drag every last ounce of strength from within yourself,?just to make it through another day.
And at the end of that day,?you’re still here.?Still breathing.?Still wondering if it’s enough —?if it’s okay that all you managed to do was breathe?and fight not to drown.
Drowning sounds painful. It sounds like giving up.?But which hurts more — your body drowning,?or your mind being pulled under, wave after wave,?by pain and loneliness you can’t escape?
When your body drowns, it gives up. It stops fighting.?But you mind? The mind keeps going.?It keeps fighting, even as it’s swallowed whole,?left to suffer,?left to wonder if there will ever be a way?to make the waves stop crashing.

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Beata Agustin October 25, 2025 at 5:30 AM Thanks for sharing this... exposing your thoughts through your unique poetic style. Welcome to Poetry Soup. I welcome you with the love of the Lord, expressed by John 3:16 of the Bible, "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." Be blessed.