Half A Brain Poem by Margaret Alice Second

There was a young man, gifted beyond measure,
his paintings and creative writing exceptional and
learning ability far beyond the norm, but plagued
by anxiety caused by his perfectionist tendencies
and four successful medical practitioner brothers,
his felt dissatisfied with being who he was

Instead of realising his inner artist he also wanted
to make academic study his field, but the stress
was too much for his artistic soul, he fell ill and so
schizophrenia was diagnosed and he could only
hold down a non-stressful administrative job which
frustrated his creative mind and much worse:

Since he heard voices he was given the dreaded
deadly psychiatric drugs that quieted the voices
by silencing parts of his brain until he was locked
up in an institution to wither away quietly, not a
burden to anybody, a guinea pig for unscientific
dangerous practitioners of psychiatry until he died

A vegetable in the end - dear reader, take heed,
do not live with too much stress - relax and enjoy
life and do not strive for perfection as it will drive
you mad and put an early end to your life, just be
content with who you are and do not compare
yourself with others of your kind: you are unique

Trying to be somebody else will surely stop you
from being you without ever changing you into a
successful person of another kind, you will end
up with half a brain and organ failure thanks to
the wonders of murderous Western medicine…