From the youth perspective!
Recent High School graduate – Hannah would like to share her story through three poems. These poems focus on Depression,
Bipolar Disorder and Bullying.
Thank you for taking the time to listen to them!
Below are her poems in the order they are presented:
Depression
By Hannah
Depression,
A dark void,
A black hole of life,
Happiness,
And,
Color,
Depression creates,
Hatred,
Anger,
And,
Sadness,
Depression makes,
Everything harder,
Everyone evil,
And,
Nothing fun,
A life with depression is,
Hard,
Long,
Terrible,
And,
Rough,
Depression,
A dark pit,
A never-ending torture,
But,
Always ends,
Depression ends when,
Happiness,
Color,
And,
Fun returns …
What is Bipolar
By Hannah
Bipolar,
But what is it,
What is it like,
Is it a disease,
Is it a bad thing?
A bad person,
A hateful burden,
No, it is not,
It is a mental health disorder,
A mood disorder,
One minute you are happy,
The next you are not,
You go up and down,
Just like a roller coaster,
Up and down,
Up being happy and/ or manic,
Down being sad and/ or depressed,
For some anger is not anger,
But fear,
Anxiety,
Worry,
Real anger is silent,
Retained,
Kept secret,
You hide,
Hide who you really are from the world,
So, no one knows you are bipolar,
The misconceptions and biases keeping you hidden,
For they are an unbroken lie,
An unstoppable lie,
For those who can fight,
Fight for those who cannot,
Helping those who can,
Feel safe,
Heard,
Believed,
Making the dark black and gray sky,
Bright and blue again…
Never Give Up
By Hannah
Why,
Why they all said in unison,
Why,
How could he do that to you,
No,
Wait a minute,
You are just messing with us,
Aren’t you,
My facial features change to peer rage,
Thoughts came racing in,
Then,
All of a sudden, their faces change to peer fright,
They start to back up,
But I was not going to let them leave without an explanation,
I yell STOP,
They pause,
And sank in to their seats,
Frozen,
Still and quiet,
I calm myself,
And start,
I start an explanation from the years before to the years after,
Their eyes widen us my words hit close to home,
Those words,
Those words,
Changed them,
Changed them forever,
Words,
Those powerful thing,
Words,
As l got to the piece about love,
The room was in tears,
From that day I told the bullies my heart-breaking story,
To now as I tell my story to a room full of people like me,
I tell over and over,
It gets a little easier each time,
I write a book,
I go to college,
And most of all I have family,
All of my family,
Yes, we are split in two,
But I can see him,
I can talk to him,
I can be with him,
Love,
That thing that can destroy or create,
The thing that can start wars,
And topple governments,
It can save lives,
Or destroy them,
Love the most powerful force just before words,
As I finish my speech of my life,
At the last second, I decided to add a hopeful comment,
Just because life is dark now does not mean it will always be that way,
You are not given a destiny or a purpose,
You make your own,
This comment,
The comment that my mother gave me during a dark time in my life,
I know it was not the exact comment,
But it was close enough to it,
To bring hope in to a roomful of people who really need it,
So maybe one day they will be able to tell their life story to those who need it,
All it takes is one who is willing to fight their fears and fly,
Fly higher than ever before,
To feel the release of pain,
To feel free,
And to help those who just need a friendly face to talk to,
As one-story ends,
Another will begin …