I once heard someone quote – “our thoughts that we aren’t prepared in the daylight to see,
dance around us, out of the daylight”
these thoughts. they tangle us into their webs with false promises
they make us dream nightlies and prolong the belief of could be, but isn’t.
they act out, deny, displace, react: they do everything in their power to avoid contact
with their consciousness.
they whisper us into the darkness but there’s more to it than meets the eye,
there’s more to know about the shadows that follow us all the time.
they lurk around in every corner
seducing us with desires to settle down
in the dominant nooks of our minds
trying to manipulate, bringing everything we hold dear into question,
extorting our very fiber from our being till we gasp for air,
driving us to the verge of insanity, but leaving us one step behind
just one step from the edge
to let the tortured flesh survive.
and then they wonder, here and there, leaving scatters behind
of enraged hunger and malaise
for they know we are prisoners to our thoughts and
we ignorant egoists will let them build a home inside.
if we were free men and women with courage in our veins
we would have long sought help and killed those devils with all might.
This poem is written by Aishwarya Garg who is currently a student pursuing her master’s in clinical psychology. She dances for a cure and talks to people as a hobby. She aspires to become a part of the mental health space and help those who have lost themselves, find their voice, and a will to live.