The Dark

By WriterInTheDark

Fri, 01 Sep 2017
  • 851 reads
2 comments
 

 

 

I’m here, can you see me?

See the grin on a face,

Held up by string and tied in a noose.

Tightening slowly, slowly in its choking grasp.

 

I’m here, can you smell me?

Smell the anxiety and despair;

The melancholy emptiness in one bitter breath.

Fear of all and nothing filling the sinuses.

 

I’m here, can you taste me?

Taste the sour saliva and salty tears.

The metallic blood spilling out from shallow veins;

The sweet disguise that slips past the tongue.

 

I’m here, can you feel me?

Feel the gnarled limb squeezing the stomach.

Inducing hot and cold waves of emotion;

Fire and ice raging a war in a broken body.

 

I’m here, are you listening?

Listening to the sorrowful voices pleading for peace;

Hidden in a carefully careless laugh.

Are you listening to the stifled sobs?

 

I’m here, can you see me?

No;

No, I don't think you can.

It’s easier not to.

But I am here.

Somewhere in the dark.

 

This deep, forever dark.

Certificate 15
Poem

Comments

Submitted by airyfairy on

I like the way this shows that depression invades all the senses.  The description of the grin 'held up with string' is particularly striking and really conveys the mask that people use to disguise the reality.  And of course, as you indicate, often people with depression can't 'see' what is really going on for them.

Good piece.  I enjoyed reading it and I'm looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Submitted by Rhiannonw on

line 3, I think you mean 'held'?

An interesting attempt to explore the longing for help, and for someone to notice in some way the concealed signals of struggling depression, while hiding and retreating from any obvious revealing of anxiety and desires for sharing. Rhiannon