Limbo

A poem about a person who feels stuck in life

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Dear readers,

Sometimes we don’t know where we are in life and where we can go.

Limbo

I float in limbo

Under me there’s no support of land
Over me there’s no shade of sky

I can’t go forward
I can’t go backward
I can’t go upward
I can’t go downward

I see: no light
I can see nothing
Nothing can see me

I scream: no sound
I hear no one
No one hears me

I feel: nothing
It’s neither cold
Nor hot
It’s neither soft
Nor hard

I smell: no smell
No floral notes
No oriental notes
No fresh notes
No woody notes

I taste: nothing
It’s not sweet
It’s not sour
It’s not salty
It’s not bitter

It’s empty
It’s dark

But between the darkness above me
And the darkness below me

All of my successes and all of my failures
All of my desires and all of my fears
All of my loves and all of my hates
All of my rights and all of my wrongs

They float with me in limbo

-Niraj Pancholi

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A note on the poem

This poem began with an image in my mind: a person floating in an empty black space.

Man or woman? I couldn’t tell.

Image of the person was tiny, and the darkness around them was extending to infinity.

Then the person moved their limbs.

Slow at first. Then frantically, trying to escape the dark limbo.

But no matter how hard the person tried, they stayed at the same place, as if they were floating in outer space. Floating in nothingness.

Helpless.

I put myself in the shoes of that person and began to imagine from their perspective.

What would I do in this situation?

If I couldn’t move around, the next thing I would check is all of my senses.

Usually, when going about my day, I don’t focus on the five senses. They are just there. Doing their work.

But in this situation, they are desperately needed.

Unfortunately, in this situation, the senses fail as well.

But could a person ever be in a situation where there is absolutely nothing around them?

No.

All of the experiences of the person, good and bad, wanted and unwanted, are still with them.

One is never truly alone. The past follows wherever one goes.

Even into nothingness.

A question for you: What can one do when one feels stuck in limbo? I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments.

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No part of this post was written or edited with AI.

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© 2026 Niraj Pancholi. All rights reserved