Everything’s a distraction
Watching movies
Listening to live music
Meeting friends at bars
It all distracts you
From the darkness within
You awake every morning
With a black cloud
Hovering over you
No one else sees it
No one would suspect
You’d have one
But you see it
It’s always there
So, you do things
To distract you
You stay busy
Avoiding the black cloud
Sometimes staying busy
Isn’t enough to help
Sometimes the black cloud
Surrounds you and
Nothing you do can
Save you or stop it
You don’t know how
It goes away but it does
It never really goes away
So, you learn to live with it
But your fear of it
Taking over never leaves
The black cloud makes you
Think the worst things
About yourself and others
You become your own
Worst enemy; a villain
Fueled by hate and pain
Your emotions are
A powerful force
And you’ve slipped
Into the dark side
The darkness wants
To consume you
How do you emerge from
The darkness after it takes hold
Everyone’s path is different
Your path might be alone
Ending it all is not the answer
Don’t let the darkness win
Never give up and
Never surrender
But don’t live through
Distractions either
Find a way to overcome
Make the darkness disappear
From the poetry collection Cats, Coffee, Catharsis.
James Pack 