[NorthNessie]

I wrote and presented this for a poetry slam at my school. I didn't win, but did receive a high mark and praises for it.

You

You’re usually fine when we are together,
But at home,
When you’re alone,
I know that you’re not okay.

You hate yourself,
like I hate this planet,
You think that everything you do,
Every word you say,
Every movement,
and heart beat,
Is a mistake.
But you’re wrong!

To me,
The words you speak are poetry,
And the moves you make are your own unique dance,
I celebrate every single heartbeat,
Because as long as it beats,
You are mine.

Darling, if you were a mistake,
You’d be the best one I’ve ever made.

No, your problems don’t hurt me,
I can’t blame you for what is going on in your beautiful mind.
I remind you countless times,
That I too have been there,
That yes, many people have those types of thoughts,
That many people have felt the same thing as you and I,
You, are not alone.

I am not hurt,
But it saddens me,
That you cannot see the amazing person I do,
That you are hurting,
And I am fine,
Sitting at my desk, wasting time doing things that mean nothing to me.

Every experience of depression is different,
You are affected a different way than someone else.
For many,
It slowly finds you at your most vulnerable,
Like a leach at the lake,
It snatches on,
You never noticing,
it sucks everything good away,
And replaces it with demons and nightmares.

There’s always a sense of,
I’m depressed,
But usually, when that occurs,
It’s already too late to call for help.

For you,
it has made you believe that your biggest mistake,
is your own existence…

Would you know,
if the closest person to you,
Believed that their own existence was a mistake?
That the world would be a better place without them?
Probably not,
because the people who think this,
Can never bring their voices up,
To say it.

They are so scared,
That none of the words come out,
And it’s just a battle in their minds,
So they revert to any fashion of getting the demons out,
Like writing or typing words down that have meaning at the moment,
But in a year time,
Might be seen as attention seeking?

To those of us who know,
The ones that have been there,
We can tell the difference between the millions of dark images of a girl's slit wrist,
with the caption ‘I’m fine’,
From an actual cry for help.

You are fine, when we're together,
But at home,
When you are alone,
I know you're not okay.