Not Waving but Drowning

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 loved larking
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

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And, from a reader:  Hello Mary, I was browsing your site and came across the Poetry and Personality: Enneagram 7 and Stevie Smith's poem 'Not Waving but Drowning' which reminded me of a TV commercial that I used to really love as a child, whose words I remember to this day. A quick Google search and here it is and it's quite heart rending for me to look at today, I am a type 7.
~ Geraldine Westrupp, http://wildphotographyholidays.com

 

Out of the Box Coaching and
Breakthroughs with the Enneagram, Mary R. Bast, Ph.D. 
Copyright © 1999. All rights reserved. Revised: August 09, 2011