(Editors note: This is National Suicide Prevention Week. The poems we feature this week are meant to contribute to raising awareness toward this cause. All are welcome to participate)
This thing I call Depression with a capital
'D' is no light topic, and is often taboo...
So even more
is the topic of suicide and suicidality, which plagues many with depression.
I started to talk to my Depression as a teenager, but only very recently have
shared some of the writings of dark despair.
This piece,
written more recently, helps reflect on what Depression has taken, and how I
must drown out its voice...banish it out of my head and heart. How I
must reclaim what was stolen and find joy in it.
Always,
please know there are those who have been there, and that you and we,
we are not alone.
Depression Lies
by Julia W. Prentice
It is a Liar
first
Whispering
nasty stories in your head
“You will
never be enough” It hisses
“You are
worthless” it growls
“Your are bad
- you did something wrong”
It points a
blaming finger at you
Calls out “You
are the Lie!”
You begin to
believe it
Demonic, now
the Thief
Takes
possession of your soul
Looting the
goodness within
Replacing it
with despair and loneliness
“People only
pretend to like you”
“They’d be
better off without you”
It has stolen
your creative spark
You see your
knitting lying idle
But paralysis
has set in
Numbness like
a slept-on arm
Your
motivation purloined
The Liar,
having spun skeins of deceit,
Hands them to
the Thief who
Takes the
needles up and knits
Stabbing,
piercing
Your insides
a with their points
Going to the
quick and keeping on
Lick your
wounds, it won’t help
Attempt to
unravel tangled lies
Knots of
deceit
To find the
absent self
You won’t
succeed
The Thief
knits on;
Row after row
of falsehoods
Woven inside
your mind
Tangling your
true self
Pulling it
into the web
Of those
tight-knit afghans
Black yarn
blocking out
All light,
all goodness
All hope
extinguished
Their work
done
Having
embedded all the untruths
The Liar
slithers off
Having robbed
all expectations
The Thief
absconds
Twisted,
warped and wrapped
In darkest
stitches
Entwined in
ebon winding sheets
You are left
for dead, entombed
inside the
dreaded crypt
Of your own
mind
Despite this
darkness and confinement
Between the
bound-off lies
You find your
looted spark
Your own
voice whispers deep inside
‘This is what
you must try to remember;
This is what
you must tell yourself'
“Depression
always lies”
Julia W. Prentice: A deeply feeling Cancer, Julia has been writing since her teenage years. She is the mother of three sons, has successful careers in teaching children, interpretation in sign language and assisting persons with mental health challenges to find their own paths to recovery. Living with her love and partner of over forty years has brought contentment and much fulfillment. She writes like she breathes: incessantly, some in ragged gasps, some in whispering sighs, some in mighty shouts. Always she is driven to write. Recently after taking a women’s online writing course she has heard the universe telling her to share her writings. You may find them on her blog "A Shooting Star" here.
~If you are interested in seeing your poetry appear in this blog, or submitting a poem by a woman that has inspired you, please click here for submission guidelines. I greatly look forward to hearing from you!~
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