Ode to a Tormented soul

TW: description of depression

I want to share this poem that my dad sent to me today. I hadn’t seen it before, but he wrote it back in the 90s. It’s about depression.  It’s pretty powerful I think. He’s always been really artistic – he writes, plays music and he used to paint, too. He’s the reason I got an A in Art GCSE, why I became obsessed with volcanoes as a child and why I thought that pixies visited the bottom of our garden (Plasticine modelling was another skill of his).

Have a read and feel free to leave comments.

Ode to a Tormented soul – by Simon Winstanley

Find me in my corner still,

Alone and trapped in thought;

Find me by the window sill,

Wretched, empty yet seeing nought;

Find me in the garden, with blooms that gladden hearts;

You will not find me.

 

See me in the local tavern,

Strained smile, conversation shallow;

See me scale the hills in Malvern,

My awkward gait my skin so sallow;

See me in the springtime, the season to lift the spirit;

You will not see me.

 

Watch me by the market stall,

How conspicuous I must seem;

Watch me by the city hall;

An interest in architecture suddenly redeemed;

Watch me as I saunter a lonely man in a crowd;

You will not watch  me.

 

Take me by the hand and lead me,

For I cannot see the way;

Take me into your heart and trust me,

Into a sunlit glade I pray;

Take me to that place that soothes me in my dreams;

You will not take me.

 

Understand me please is all I ask,

And help remove this awful pall;

To Love me! perhaps an impossible task,

For I must be the sheep in the devil’s shawl.

I walk this Earth on my terms only,

Destined to a life that’s so very lonely.