Live

Don't tell me to live.

Don't tell me that 'just surviving' is bad.

Don't tell me that I'm wasting my talents,

pouring them down the drain.

Don't tell me I could have achieved the heights I've always dreamt of.

Don't tell me that I could have done all that I was meant for.

Don't tell me that I have talents I didn't explore.

At the least, don't tell me I can't do them anymore.

Don't tell me surviving is wrong.

Don't tell me 'living' is what I should have aimed for.

Please don't tell me that in a world, where every man wakes up to survive somehow,

in that very world, I have wasted my talents by choosing to do the same every time.

Do you think I don't know,

Do you think I don't rebuke myself every night,

Do you think I don't wish my life was perfect,

A life where I did everything I wanted to and despite that, returned to the quiet.

Don't tell me my wandering brain won't let me achieve what I want,

you have no idea how much I control it.

And don't tell me my heart I can't decant,

Cause I've waited 24 years for it.

But mostly, don't tell me "you didn't try your best"

Cause every morning I wake up with this thought & admonish myself every night.

Cause surviving somehow is what I do best,

it is what is keeping me alive. -Shubhangi Agarwal