CHRISTMAS IS OVERChristmas is over. The rush of carol concerts, The beauty of advent candles Is done; The song books returned to the shelves For another year. The presnts are opened; The food is eaten;
The magic of Christmas
In the face of a child
Fades to a memory.
Christmas is over,
Leaving us
Pounds poorer -
And pounds heavier!
Emotionally spent;
Spiritually flat.
And yet
A new year comes apace
With resolutions to be made
And broken;
With challenges to be faced;
With opportunities to be grasped;
With time to be redeemed.
No doubt there will be wars.
No doubt there will be evil
For we cannot change mankind.
Yet we can change ourselves
To be the best we can be;
To live up to our ideals;
To love, to share, to care
And in our own small way
Bring peace on earth -
The message
Of the Christmas angels.
Christmas is over -
Yet Christmas lives
In the New Year.
~~~~~
SCARE
Bus comes up hill -
I run.
Pain comes univited -
Arrives before the bus!
Pressing,
Squeezing,
Grasping the neck,
Filling with a sense
Of impending doom.
I sit down,
Take out the spray:
One squirt;
Five minutes;
No better.
Another squirt
Wait;
Yet another.
I should be in A & E -
No way!
Good,
It's lifting.
I can breathe.
It wasn't a heart attack!
I'm alive.
13/09/2007 Author's Notes: Stream of consciousness of last Wednesday evening! Now behaving.
~~~~~
COG (Burnout?)
Once I was human.
I had values.
I was valued.
I was part
Of a community –
A living organism.
But slowly –
Imperceptibly at first,
The heart
Was replaced by silicon;
The gentleness
Transmuted into harsh metal
And we became cogs.
I became a cog –
A carbon copy
Of every other cog;
Expendable;
Easily replaced;
Expected to be
Mindless.
There to serve a function
Regardless
Of how I felt;
No autonomy;
There to mesh
With other cogs
To achieve
The desired output.
Disillusioned.
Dehumanised.
Lacking human interaction
I rust;
Grate on other cogs
And wait
For the scrapheap.
~~~~~
Thank you to my Internet friends by ann_c
Can anyone know the darkness?
Can anyone know the pain?
The deep despair and torment
Which grip the heart again;
The hopelessness, the terror –
Each dark, intrusive thought
Which steals away tomorrow?
The daily battles fought?
Can anyone know the feelings
Unless they have been there?
The struggle just to function,
Longing for one to share?
The loneliness envelops;
The bell-jar closes in;
The voice of death is calling;
There is no peace within.
Yet others, too have been there
And come out to the light.
They stretch their hands to help me
And guide me through the night.
I thank you for your wisdom,
Support along the way,
Showing a chink of brightness,
Helping me through the day.
~~~~~
FOG
The dense, suffocating mist draws nearer –
Surrounds me,
Envelops me.
Its breath insinuates itself
Into every crevice,
Every orifice.
The cold air
Hits my lungs.
Its chilling power crosses
To my bloodstream.
Fingers no longer obey brain’s commands
To type the letters intended.
It hits my brain
Like carbon dioxide
On a kindling fire
Stifling motivation,
Creativity, will.
Sapping the strength of the endorphins.
Giving the cytokines free rein
To fight the no-longer existing virus.
Paralysing my mind
With depression
Anxiety
And brain fog.
~~~~~
The magic of Christmas
In the face of a child
Fades to a memory.
Christmas is over,
Leaving us
Pounds poorer -
And pounds heavier!
Emotionally spent;
Spiritually flat.
And yet
A new year comes apace
With resolutions to be made
And broken;
With challenges to be faced;
With opportunities to be grasped;
With time to be redeemed.
No doubt there will be wars.
No doubt there will be evil
For we cannot change mankind.
Yet we can change ourselves
To be the best we can be;
To live up to our ideals;
To love, to share, to care
And in our own small way
Bring peace on earth -
The message
Of the Christmas angels.
Christmas is over -
Yet Christmas lives
In the New Year.
~~~~~
SCARE
Bus comes up hill -
I run.
Pain comes univited -
Arrives before the bus!
Pressing,
Squeezing,
Grasping the neck,
Filling with a sense
Of impending doom.
I sit down,
Take out the spray:
One squirt;
Five minutes;
No better.
Another squirt
Wait;
Yet another.
I should be in A & E -
No way!
Good,
It's lifting.
I can breathe.
It wasn't a heart attack!
I'm alive.
13/09/2007 Author's Notes: Stream of consciousness of last Wednesday evening! Now behaving.
~~~~~
COG (Burnout?)
Once I was human.
I had values.
I was valued.
I was part
Of a community –
A living organism.
But slowly –
Imperceptibly at first,
The heart
Was replaced by silicon;
The gentleness
Transmuted into harsh metal
And we became cogs.
I became a cog –
A carbon copy
Of every other cog;
Expendable;
Easily replaced;
Expected to be
Mindless.
There to serve a function
Regardless
Of how I felt;
No autonomy;
There to mesh
With other cogs
To achieve
The desired output.
Disillusioned.
Dehumanised.
Lacking human interaction
I rust;
Grate on other cogs
And wait
For the scrapheap.
~~~~~
Thank you to my Internet friends by ann_c
Can anyone know the darkness?
Can anyone know the pain?
The deep despair and torment
Which grip the heart again;
The hopelessness, the terror –
Each dark, intrusive thought
Which steals away tomorrow?
The daily battles fought?
Can anyone know the feelings
Unless they have been there?
The struggle just to function,
Longing for one to share?
The loneliness envelops;
The bell-jar closes in;
The voice of death is calling;
There is no peace within.
Yet others, too have been there
And come out to the light.
They stretch their hands to help me
And guide me through the night.
I thank you for your wisdom,
Support along the way,
Showing a chink of brightness,
Helping me through the day.
~~~~~
FOG
The dense, suffocating mist draws nearer –
Surrounds me,
Envelops me.
Its breath insinuates itself
Into every crevice,
Every orifice.
The cold air
Hits my lungs.
Its chilling power crosses
To my bloodstream.
Fingers no longer obey brain’s commands
To type the letters intended.
It hits my brain
Like carbon dioxide
On a kindling fire
Stifling motivation,
Creativity, will.
Sapping the strength of the endorphins.
Giving the cytokines free rein
To fight the no-longer existing virus.
Paralysing my mind
With depression
Anxiety
And brain fog.
~~~~~