The Curse of Feeling Too Much

if you’re an overthinker, you’ll deeply relate to this poem. Feeling isn’t bad, no, it is what makes you human. But what about the feelings which are born out of sheer overthinking? Feeling things to the extent that you struggle to eat, sleep and breathe. Caught in an endless spiral of thoughts – no way out, no way in. The curse of feeling too much, perhaps?

The world has got a good number of things to deal with,

a good number of places to go to,

while I lay in my coffin of thoughts

One by one, plucking and chewing them up.

The world has got a good number of people to meet,

While the only two people I see everyday –

Is the one I wish to be, and the one I thought I would be.

Trust me, nothing is darker than the human mind,

Nothing so deeply agonising,

Once you crawl down, there’s no way out of him.

And then,

The world has got loving arms to wrap at night,

While my heart comes out with the moon

And all night-

My feelings wrap around my neck to bite.

-Fanoos

---

Fanoos is the pen name of Jhanvi Sabharwal. It is a greek word originating from phanós, which means ‘light’ or ‘lantern’. Fanoos, in her words, reflects how writing poetry during the darkest times brings the light in her life. The light in the darkness.

Art by Malcolm T. Liepke