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Hard Time


As another Mental Health Week comes to a close it is important  to remember that not all illnesses have physical symptoms. My cerebral palsy is easily identified b y my wheelchair but when I'm out and about no one can identify the psychological struggle I've had to fight over the last twelve months just to get out of bed. So now I share the following poem in the hope it will teach some people that they do not struggle alone and that your mental health is more important than just a week. 

Hard Time

Have you ever been sentenced to hard time
Before you've even committed a crime? 
Have you been sent to prison
Where the only bars are your own psychological scars?
How many times have you tried to dig through the mental cell wall
But just when you're about to break through
You don't even have the energy left to crawl. 
Have you ever spent a year or more
Locked in a small room staring at the ceiling?
And you're only cellmate is an anxious and uneasy feeling. 
What do you do when 'Warden Depression' 
Tries to force a guilty confession?
How did you deal when you were out of control
And everything felt so bad you knew there was no possibility of parole?
Anger and hopelessness stood invisible guard
Every time you thought you were about to fail 
They were there ready to throw you back in jail. 
Do you remember all the negative thoughts that created instability
And threw you into solitary?
How does it feel to know you're physically free
But anxiety has you under lock and key?
Do you know what it's like to be an inmate of self hate?
The mental illness penitentiary is hard to find
Because it's up there in your mind.
So when depression releases you from your confine
Remember it's okay to speak up when doing hard time. 

Mental Health Week poem 2018

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