Poem by Dana Young
Depression
I hate you.
You stole the joy from my mother’s eyes,
Exchanging her smiles with frowns,
Turning her sunshines into turbulent black skies.
You made every day of rising out of sleep uncertain,
Of the mindset she will be in and what side of her I’ll get.
I hate that you took what could’ve been.
The tiny glimpses of happiness that I see radiate off of her in rare, stolen moments.
That ends abruptly in seconds.
You stole the light from inside of her, forcing her to live in the darkness
Of her thoughts and self hatred.
You caused her to hate each second of every day that she was born
Yearning for death at every second
Because it’s death and not life that she considers a gift.
You changed her perceptions of everything.
She doesn’t feel the warmth of love or the security of family.
She sees holes, and pits, despair and other distortions.
I hate how you cause her to view herself and her life
As just unnecessary, worthless and hopeless.
She doesn’t see the reason why she is alive
And can’t take the pain of living through another day.
Depression.
I hate you. Not just for the mental anguish you bring but for the physical representations.
For the guilt she feels for wanting to share feelings from her wounded soul
But knowing the burden and pain it places on the loved listener.
To hear for the umpteenth time that she
Wishes death had claimed her at any of the moments in her life, whether through her hand or natural causes.
Depression.
I hate you.
You took everything from me and I have to watch my mother slowly fade away.
Dying internally, mentally hemorrhaging as her thoughts take her to deeper, darker depths.
You took away the “her” that could’ve been from life traumas and hardships.
You took the oxygen away from me when you claimed my mother.
When you chose her as one of yours.
You took my heart beat when you placed your greedy, narcissistic claws on my mother’s heart.
Depression.
I hate you more than I could ever express.
You chopped away at her heart until all that’s left.
Is a void…and depression.
Dana Young
Poetic Blueprint 