Depression Poem by John Venable

A poem about Depression

IF I HAD NO ARMS

You would help me open the door
You would help me to cook
You would help me to wash
You would help me to clean
If I had no arms

IF I HAD NO ARMS

You would help me to cut my lawn
You would help me to plant some flowers
You would help me to sweep my drive
You would help me to paint my fence
If I had no arms

IF I HAD NO ARMS

You would help me to wash my clothes
You would help me with my shopping
You would help me with my bills
You would help me, , feed my cat
If I had no Arms

BUT!

It's not the arms I am missing
It's a chemical in my brain
I hate to say this too you but I am quietly going insane
They say I have depression
But it doesn't mean a thing
Until you get inside my head
Where birds no longer sing

The light is off,
The tunnel is closed
I can no longer find the switch….
I feel like I am falling
Into a smelly repugnant ditch

I cannot live for long down here
While time is passing by
I do not want to end my life
I do not want to die
I want to find the tunnel end
I want out of this ditch
Please help me,
Help me do this
Help me find the light switch


I cannot do this on my own
I really need your help
But you cannot see it
You only hear my yelp
I do not want to live down here
I don't want another day
I do not want to live in fear
I want to go away

So please for me close your eyes
And think of what it's like, ,
To have no hope or future
It's way, way out of sight
I do not want to harm myself
Or hurt the ones I love
I no longer want to cause alarms
When all you really need to do

Imagine

I HAVE NO ARMS

John Venable 11/10/2016