Teenage Depression
Head bowed and stomach in a knot,
Thoughts stained by maudlin covers,
This teenager could never slot
In with the happy others.
Depression crept beneath my skin,
They had no way of seeing
At sixteen I was chained within
The borders of my being.
I knew it wasn’t 'just a phase'
Or caused by sneering bullies,
The mind is an internal maze
Controlled by mental pulleys.
I had to give each day a miss
And stay inside my prison,
I only knew a dark abyss,
Although the sun had risen.
Existing in a blackened pit,
I stumbled, sadly finding
Hard time and no escape from it,
The sentence passed was binding.
Life came along and tripped a soul,
As I listened frustrated
A doctor gave me Tryptizol,
Those yellow pills I hated.
The hand my DNA had dealt
Trumped medical prescriptions,
Nor could I tell him how I felt,
For there were no descriptions.
While others learned to live I stayed
Behind like some enigma,
I kept my illness in the shade,
Embarrassed by its stigma.
From childhood joy to tortured cry,
From freedom to repression,
My teenage years were savaged by
The black dog of depression.
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