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Schizophrenia

I lived once in a land before the light where shadows ruled and terror was the king Sable dark did fall upon me every night and flittermouse did brush me with their wing. There was no day to shine away the fear so terror ruled, malignant, endless black; eyes closed or open, demons still appear and, as in life, to stab me in the back. Darkness in my head, darkness in my soul, and in them both, the devils now reside; what little left of me has lost control. Or did they simply ask, and I complied? I still live in a land without the light; where I can’t tell the daytime from the night.

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Andrea Dietrich

Date: 8/6/2025 1:17:00 PM

Read your comment to Caycay, so I realize it's not about you. My dad was this. It was the 50's and they had nothing but electric shock therapy, so my mom needed to divorce him and get her 4 daughters back to her home state. My father was so intelligent when my mother first met him, but during his time as a nurse in Korea, this illness came out in him and he returned to my mother a different person. Thankfully my sisters and I did not get it. I await the day I see my dad in heaven (normal again)

CayCay Jennings

Date: 8/6/2025 4:18:00 AM

It's hard to ignore that a poem's subject may be personal & just comment on the poem. BUT, I deflate a bit when my poem is overlooked & comments focus on my wellbeing. That sounds like I'm a rude pants, but I'm not, people can do both! Poem is brilliant, superbly crafted with various shades of the illness, as I've witnessed them in my life, impacting the reader. This is a mental illness with varying degrees of hell & I regret if you or 'yours' lives with it. My prayers you would have. CayCay

Terry Miller
Date: 8/6/2025 7:27:00 AM

It is based not on myself but on someone I once knew who suffered. I tried writing this in the third person, but it hits much harder in the first person, where you can express the inner conflicts rather than being an outside observer. But thank you for your concern. I agree with your opening statement, and thank you for reading and for commenting. I appreciate it