Barbara J. O'Brien

Barbara J. O'Brien Poems

The Best Poem Of Barbara J. O'Brien

For Daniel

Take these shackles off,
And let me be!
Take these drugs away,
And set me free!
For want of freedom,
I tried to stop,
The street drug's, the dope,
That held me shackle bound,
That kept me high,
Yet held me down.
My thinking and feeling,
Too numb to be,
I kept feeling like I,
Was losing me!
So my parents in hope of help,
Sent me to psychiatry.
The help I got didn't set me free,
Instead, it worsened severely,
My sanity.
They put me on drugs,
Said this will counteract,
The cocaine and heroin,
Yes, this will put your life intact.
But the drugs they gave me made me worse,
Prozac, etc,
My God, what a curse!
No where could I get anyone to listen to me,
Take these drugs away,
I'm only fourteen,
Take these drugs away,
Please set me free!!
I could not find even one kind nurse,
And when I tried to refuse their treatment
They pulled in the heavies,
Yes those nurses beat me,
Till I couldn't say no.
All twelve of them held me down,
The sodium pentathol they injected in me,
And then according to their reckoning,
I was quiet and peaceful,
They said I was my natural me Oh man I felt so humiliated,
My sanity did go,
My head became like lead,
But then a wonderful thing did happen,
My insurance ran out!
They let me out!
Never again will I agree,
To such an attempt to overwhelm me,
I've put myself together at last,
I'm at school studying for my degree,
Damn those psychs!
Never again will they touch me!
To hell with psychiatry,
I'm going free!

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