Not Waving, But Drowning - Loyle Carner

I read about a man getting drowned once

His friends thought he was waving to them from the sea but really,

he was drowning

And then I thought that, in a way, it is true of life too

That a lot of people pretend, out of bravery really

That they are very jolly and ordinary sort of chaps

But really they do not feel at home at all in the world

Or able to make friends easily

So then they joke a lot and laugh

And people think they’re quite alright and jolly nice too

But sometimes that brave pretense breaks down

And then, like the poor man in this poem, they are lost

Not waving, but drowning