Not waving but drowning aka Life?

Thanks to my most lovely, high school English teacher, I will always remember this poem. It is so dear to me.

Isn't life a lot like this? As we keep trying to paddle water to stay on top to keep breathing?

Tell someone if it's you drowning out there! Keep your feelings real - avoid being misunderstood.

Not Waving but Drowning

By Stevie Smith

"Nobody heard him, the dead man,   

But still he lay moaning:

I was much further out than you thought   

And not waving but drowning.

Poor chap, he always lovedlarking

And now he’s dead

It must have been too cold for him his heart gave way,   

They said.

Oh, no no no, it was too cold always   

(Still the dead one lay moaning)   

I was much too far out all my life   

And not waving but drowning."

Stevie Smith, “Not Waving but Drowning” from Collected Poems of Stevie Smith.Copyright © 1972 by Stevie Smith. Reprinted with the permission of New Directions Publishing Corporation.

Source: New Selected Poems(New Directions Publishing Corporation, 1988)