Onto the Page

The thing about all those times when you feel low

Is that you end up getting good at not letting it show.

You can put on a front and fake a smile

And act like you're okay, for a little while.

You can even start to kid yourself,

Because you can seem fine to everyone else.

The world is already full of worries and strife

The truth is, that it's just a fact of life.

Yours are just the next in a long list,

So it's no wonder that they can be easily missed.

But the silence you sit in doesn't reach your mind,

It's like an entry in a diary that no one will find.

A constant stream of noise and chatter,

The buzz of too many thoughts and worries that shouldn't matter.

A mixture of feelings, too many to understand,

And then comes the stress when life doesn't go as planned.

Words of self-deprecation slip from the tongue, out of habit,

A reflex caused by stress, like a morbid kind of comfort blanket.

Distraction offers relief, sometimes,

Like when you're searching for a phrase that rhymes.

Or just opening up the flood gates wide,

Because you might discover that your brain has lied.

An easy release when it gets to that stage,

Is by letting everything spill onto the page.

It doesn't always need to make any sense,

You don't always need to keep up the pretence.

Whether for your eyes only, or as something to share,

Or as a speech to read out, just to thin air.

It's enough to lighten the load, just a little,

To make your fragile mind feel that bit less brittle.

And for those who can read between the lines,

It's just another of the steps you take to survive.