Despair & Longing

A funny(ish) poem about mental health

Well here we are again, October 10th,World International Mental Health Day and

kick that tumbleweed out of the way and mind you don't prick yourself on that cactus.  

You may call me a cynic

but this "talk to somebody" business is bollocks.

What if the somebody you choose to talk to

makes your despair and longing worse

because that is what it is

'Despair & Longing'

Despair at the world (as it is with you in it)

Longing for a better world (so that you can have a better life)

They call Depression the Black Dog

I call mine the Purple Frog.

It is covered in warts and belches and farts

everyone knows when the Puce Amphibian starts.

I grumble and mumble, I stumble and I wail  

My biggest concern, from a young child, is that I fail.

Competing against your fellow (wo)man

has always been the name of the game.

"You got to be in it to win it"

Your head's got to be in the frame.

It's funny, October 10th is the one day I feel OK

because everyone is talking about me

Purple Frog says "that could be your paranoia see!"   

As the world's in uproar I might as well say

that for me, mental health is political, it is not about

chemicals in balance or out of kilter

it's about how we get messed about on the helter skelter.

We have been taught to accept that life is unfair

but what if we all untangled that from our hair.

Instead of getting older and bitter

what if we got younger and fitter
and said
 "No"
 to all the purple frogs crouching in our way

"Easier said than done" I hear you say.

We can swallow the tablets and accept the ECT

we can become hermits and hide up in the tree

making a den of all our regrets and hurts.

We sleep, the greatest escape of all

the sun peeps through the leaves

we stir and say, "maybe I'll try again"

It's too easy to think that this is the end

"Maybe Purple Frog is actually my friend"