Across the Dim Threshold and Back

Across the Dim Threshold and Back

What do they feel
When that time comes for them?
When all seems too much
And the weight of their world
Weighs wearily on their shoulders.
Is it simply a fault
In the delicate dynamic
Of brain electro-chemistry?
Or have life’s lessons
Just been more than they can bear?

I am the voice of failure
I speak in whiney monotone
I follow your mistakes
And haunt you when alone.

What turns the tide for them?
What makes it all too much?
When the daily drudgery of getting up
Becomes all too hard.
When answering that mail,
Taking that call,
Making that appointment,
Seems too much burden,
Or too futile
In the pain
Which pendulums between numb and ache.

I am the voice of apathy
Depression fills my days
I drain the marrow from your life
In many little ways.
And before you know it
I take away your zeal
I hold your energy captive
Till nothing can you feel.

What then makes some end it?
What steels their resolve?
Is it the sheer necessity?
The only way to escape
Across the dim threshold?
What then leads others back
From that deep, dark dungeon of despair?
Is it love for others?
The not wanting to punish others
For our own pain?

I am the voice of honesty
I stand and eyeball pain
I look into its darkest depths
Searching for its name.
I sit as an observer
In a firm but empathetic gaze
I draw the dark out to the sun
That it be examined by the rays.
And when the rays have warmed it
And cast out all the chill
I hand your life back to you
To your measured, tempered will.

Simon C. J. Falk 10 June 2014

One early death or person with depression is too many. We all know them. At times, we are them. This poem points towards some of the experiences and observations gathered along the way. It contains no definitive plan or answer. It merely offers some wisdom gleaned from life experience and shares it in both free verse and rhyme.