Death be violent, death be dark.
Death be silent, death be stark.
Death be doomly, death be knell.
Death be deadly, death be hell.
It ain’t the mystery that I be fearing,
but the certainty and the nearing.
The Sun ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ kept dropping -- dropping -- ¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
And wandered in ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ --
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ drowsing -- ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦
¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ I knew the Light ¦¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦ could see ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
I'm not afraid ¦¦¦ ¦¦¦¦ ¦¦¦
(Blackout of The Sun kept setting -- setting -- still by Emily Dickinson)
I turned away from the mirror as I passed, too unbearable of a sight. The look in that mirror wasn't the beat of my heart, wasn't the thought in my head, wasn't the truth in my bones. The reflection could never match the character. I could never feel right in the mirror. Like I'm faking who I am, cause god forbid I hurt someone. God forbid the life pumping through my veins is too human. It's not an image of you, it's how you're perceived. Self-perception distorts the reflection, it's kinder on the soul to look the other direction. Kinder on the eyes to not be perceived at all. To stay in that room, let your flesh grow dry and your bones show through, forget that ache for connection, welcome the numbness of starvation, strum a chord to feel whole and shatter the mirror for daring to show you your truth. Show you your rotting. You're giving up, giving in to the same standards you swore you'd never care about. Losing yourself to a reflection that was never yours. If you can't smile at yourself now, why could you before you became lost?
Not for Light's absence
Cringe, this hour, you
As for whose presence
Enlarged is. Dead!
Fearing's ghostly cloaked.
Uprose, fogged, too
Out this; by that, swamp-croaked.
That, swamp-hooted.
I float along the peaceful stream.
Will I stay put? I cannot scream; I’m only a petal, a petal can dream.
It’s bliss like the rays,
From the river to the bays,
Why am I so afraid?
For I glide and paddle my way to my feet; every raindrop sounds what I cannot keep.
When darkness looms,
My nothingness blooms.
Shadows create devils, hell’s gate.
I float along a peaceful stream, a petal can dream, but this petal screams.
I chewed my fingernails to the nubs
and then worked on all my fingers
until my hand had only stubs.
I'm nervous, and the feeling lingers.
I'm hiding in the shrubs.
I've got heebie-jeebies so severe,
I bit off both my hands and each arm.
What is causing all this fear,
that I would engage in this self-harm?
I'm so afraid I'll disappear.
I stand back and watch the river
It's flowing so fast
It's been like this day and night
With no end in sight
I already lost my home
And know I have so many doubts
I lost my dog
And right now my mind is in a fog
I lost my only transportation
Now I see my car going down the river to a new location
I lost my beautiful wife
My future is not so bright
I lost so much all at once
And I know to get back on my feet it will take months
I don't care anymore my life was very good
I thought my house would have withstood it all
I have nothing left
I'm so stress
The only thing left is my gun
And I'm not going to run
My life is completely done
Expectations
By Dustin Branum
And when my angel betrayed me
It was my demons that saved me
While the devil enslaves me
Although you might think I'm crazy
It was Lord thou savior that played me
My own flesh and blood's degrading
I thought I was Destined but maybe
Lost soul, and the death of a baby
Dark, cold, and angry they made me
The ones that loved me now hate me
One gun one bullet one shovel they gave me
Six feet down in a hole they laid me
Their masquerade
By Dustin Branum
9/21/26
The things they say that is
They ain't
The things they say that was
They wasn't
The things they say is up
Is down
The things they say is right
Is wrong
The things they say was then
Is now
The things they say is now
Was then
The things they say we can't
We can
The things they say will end
Has just begun
Why is my heart full of chaos?
Like I don't even understand my feelings for you,
As I want to give all my love
But always seems to go down the drain.
Maybe I'm not ready to receive your love
As if I've been in the street like a tsotsi,
Love seems wonderful in one minute
But it stings harder the next.
Tell me how to comprehend a world
where you could look at me and choose another.
Had I the choice of every soul in creation,
I would have bound myself to yours forever.
Yet, here I sit - flawed, discarded, incurable.
I hold no malice for your aversion;
it was only a matter of time
before you saw that I was not worth the saving.
Forgive me, for hatred is all I have left.
Whatever love I bore you lies buried
beneath the sheer weight of my terror.
Flee now, before the beast takes hold -
for your time grows dangerously short.
Ask who I am,
and I will tell you: I am fear.
It feeds until there is nothing left -
a dark so deep, no light can reach,
and no one left to save me.
*continued from pt 2*
Our physical bodies are numb, and our souls, tormented. It’s why some of us hurt ourselves. We feel a lack of purpose, draining our desire to go on. With no purpose, no love, and nothing but brutal lapses in our thoughts and emotions, will we ever be able to break free?
We are the ones who wish to die and escape this world in hopes of finding a better life after death. Our only hope is put into things we cannot see or feel. And that lingering, underlying hope is what will either keep us alive to see another day, or it will be what sends us on. Peace is what we are in pursuit of. To bad we’ll never know when and how we might attain it until its already too late.
Please read parts 1 and 2 for a fuller picture on the state of mind of those who struggle with severe depression, mental illness, and suicidal ideation.
Thank you for reading.
If I should die
Before the dawn, overcome
by a morbid scene. Rise up!
My soul – step to the Light!
And the brighter dream heart
Keeps. Caged men may be subjects
Of time, forced to obey and
Bend, but the spirit once freed minds
No such rules, will love where it
Wants~ or offend. So, laid down I may be – cleaned,
Drained and perfumed—beyond then, life’s hurtful
Rhetoric~ nevermore be gloomed.
Fear Categories
Definition | What is Fear in Poetry?
Looking for the formal definition, structure, and history of this poetry form? Visit the Poetry Dictionary entry below. Then return to explore how PoetrySoup members bring the form to life through their own poems.
Related Poetry Forms
dismay, anxiety, angst, horror, unease, jitters, doubt, suspicion, dread, despair, terror, uneasiness, panic, scare, worry, concern, cowardice, phobia, distress, fright, agitation, foreboding, faintheartedness, nightmare, revulsion