Thoughts on the shelf

Struggling with mental health

Photo by engin akyurt on Unsplash

Eternal optimism

For so long my crutch,

I’ve walked for 33 years,

Still my life isn’t much.

I’ve been here before

But then I was younger,

Standing on firmer ground

Wishing I could be under.

My friends say it’s not like me

I don’t feel like myself,

That man turned a corner

And put those thoughts on the shelf.

He’d been sitting in basements

Weighing up pros and cons,

Of bleeding or hanging

And the world when he’s gone.

He’d written the letter

He’d leave for his mother,

Then torn up the paper

And written another.

Then the tears would arrive

Guests uninvited,

Followed in by the anger

Self hatred incited.

So we buried the man

Our worst enemy,

Kept his tale as a compass