The world has gone on long enough
Treating the mentally ill awful and rough.
From mocking our symptoms
To dismissing us as self-proclaimed victims.
We huddle in our corners
Isolated and grieving like mourners.
Cut off from the world
Our damaged souls frayed and furled.
We want to come out
And shout all about
“Look at me! Look at me!
I exist, don’t you see?”
Why do you choose
To turn your back on us like we are an unlit fuse?
“Can’t you see? Can’t you see?
All that you are doing to me?”
Your eyes are glued to the skies
The clouds not parting, muffling our cries.
“How can’t you hear me? How do you not care?”
“No!” You snap back. “I do care–I just cannot bear–“
“Bear what?” We reply. “This is our burden to carry.”
“Maybe,” you mutter, “but it is too often scary.”
“It is scary because you do not understand!
The light that scatters through us, falling like sand!”
“And how am I to know,
If you are strong enough or to fall like snow?”
“Because we are mighty and strong!
We sing our beautiful survivor song!”
“A song you sing? What is this you speak of?”
“Listen well, and you will see our love–
We sing of courage, of strength and light,
We sing long into the prowess of night!
We are human and we feel
That our experiences are very real.
We may cry, we may linger
We may stumble along like a make believe figure.
But we are tough–in body and in mind
And we will stand no longer for you to be unkind.
We demand our powerhouse to be seen.
Our voices linger and they are not keen
On being silenced and hidden for any longer
Maybe this is something you should ponder
We are ill in mind
And while you may be blind,
It does not make us broken,
Rather allows us to be spoken–
That we are not alone
And that we shall be known
As gladiators. As warriors. As fighters.
Some of us may even be writers.
We are strangers no more,
Doctors, artists, professionals galore!
We have degrees,
This we shall decree!
We are just like you,
Similar, but with a different view.”
“I–I see,” you stammer “there is more of you than just one.”
“Why, but of course, my friend. Why ever would there be none?”
“I…still do not completely understand what it is you see
How you can live this life and just be.”
“It is through time
And much patience that we develop our climb
Yet it is worthwhile for us to find our hope,
To believe in a better tomorrow and positively cope.
Our journeys may be chaotic,
But to some of us, we smile and say ‘exotic’.
And with resiliency we manage to live,
With meaning and purpose we choose to give
To those in our community who still struggle
And for those of you who have yet to juggle
What it is like to be sick,
With no choice allowed to pick
What it is that inflicts us,
So thus,
We ask to be shown patience in kind,
For us to learn and find
What it means to be happy to be alive,
For we may always strive
To live a life worth living,
For you to be forgiving,
And for us to be proud,
That we’ve been allowed,
To bring life to another day
Where eventually we are okay.
Hi Recovery Raquel,
I saw you tweeting about wordpress and I thought I’d check out your website. I really like it. Looks like Recovery Raquel has come a long way!
I have a plugin that can help speed up and optimize your wordpress site. You can check it out at here
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Hey there, Chris! Awesome to have you here 🙂 And yeah, we sure have! It’s only been a year and I think I’m doing a pretty good job! Hehe.
I checked out the plugin, although I don’t think I’ll be using it, sorry! Thanks for stopping by and commenting though!! 🙂
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Fantastic poem and so relatable to those who have struggled with mental illness. Thanks so much for writing, as many of the quotes in this poem (from the POV of the ill speaker) are thoughts I’ve reflected on before.
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Thank you so much!! ❤ ❤ ❤
It was a really fun and awesome poem to write, and I hadn't thought it would take on the characters that it did when I first started it but it was super fascinating to see it grow and change. I look forward to more creative writing about mental health awareness, too! 🙂
❤ ❤ xxxx
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It’s awesome that you enjoy unraveling truths about mental health, as most people struggle to discuss it with feeling embarrassed. I look forward to reading more of your poems
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Thank you! Yeah, I’m working on being an influence within the community both online and off about making mental health something that we talk more about and don’t feel we have to hide from or feel ashamed about. :3 It’s going wonderfully so far!
Awesome! I don’t know how /often/ they’ll come but maybe that’s a part of the allure 😉
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Lovely written! That’s an amazing piece of work.
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Thank you so much!! It was great too, because once I got into the middle-ish portion of it (about the second page to the third) the words just started flowing all around! 🙂 hehe
Thanks again! 😉
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Yes! I know what you mean. I absolutely love when that happens. 😃
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It’s totally the best! It reminds me of so many other artsy practices–starting from nothing or a blank canvas to progressively creating a piece. Gwah! I just love it! 🙂
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Gwah! That makes such a wonderfully odd sound and for some reason i’m trying to sound it out now. 😅
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Lol! Gwah is fabulous, there’s this emoticon from DA that is gwah, let me try and show it here–:icongwahplz: I don’t know if that’ll work or not so–
http://comments.deviantart.com/4/12923692/4197004139
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XD this is my face daily! It’s pretty much the face I make when I read a really good blog post, or have a cup of tea. 😛
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Lmao! Oh my gosh, that’s fantastic!
I also really love the oh noes one:
http://comments.deviantart.com/4/12923692/4197009499
I find I tend to make emoticon or vast hand gestures when I am writing a post or comment and sometimes I include them in with asterisks, because I forget that the people I’m talking to can’t see the motions I’ve made lmao
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That’s hilarious! It reminds me of this youtube video series called ASDF! I think you might really enjoy it. 😂
Also, I face that too, sometimes I struggle to convey the silly expressions that should go along with the words that I type. Ahhh 😭
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Ahaha, yusssss, I just searched it up and was thinking ‘Is that the I like trains thing?’ and it is! Wonderful! –See, or not see, I just did a hand gesture that I wasn’t sure how to describe so let’s just say I clapped my hands instead XD
Right? It’s tough describing them sometimes!
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Have you watched the ‘I like trains’ music video? It is so funny!
Guess this really shows what kind of humor i’m into. ^_^
If I was an animator I’d end up unleashing up really bizzare things unto the world. *Cue everyone running around screaming noooo*
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There’s a music video? I have not seen it, but I will shortly XD
It’s the BEST kind of humor 😉
Hehehe, I’d love to figure out how to do those little pixel art things. They’re sooooo amazing and awesome–like polymer clay stuff! Freakin’ mind boggling! I did do some clay things before, maybe I should photograph them and upload them here….hmmm
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Yes you really should! It would be so interesting and fun to watch. 😀
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It’s very colorful with fancy rainbows, which I do appreciate :O
Do you like the llamas with hats videos?
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Yes I do! Although sometimes I am not sure what is going on. It’s totally like Charlie the Unicorn in some aspects. I like such obscure work. 💗
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Quite true! I didn’t realize they had more than just the main 4 with the llamas, so I’m gonna watch the rest ahaha. Charlie and the unicorn was pretty great too! I remember friends of mine in school frequently making references to it XD
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This is brilliant. 😉
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Thanks! 😛 😀
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Great poem 😀
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Thank you!! 😀 ❤
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Beautiful
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Thank you so much! 🙂
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Perfection 👍😘❤😊✊
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😀 Why thank you!! I love how it turned out, I’m so excited I got to publish it early in the day too….now I just have to focus on Stats….*sigh* Gee, how fun XD lmao
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