I hope that you enjoyed this. It was based off of a great book that I read, All The Bright Places. It is a great mental health themed book, and the ending really touched me. The ideas in the book really inspired me to write this.

I wish that I had noticed
The day I saw you cry
Instead of overlooking you
And bidding you goodbye

I wish that I had seen you
Trying to be strong
After people throwing words at you
Like a slashing terrible song

I wish I’d dried you off
Standing in the rain
At a girl peeking through curtains
Who soaked you with her distain

But I really don’t regret
That I met you that one day
When colours flooded the world
I’d gotten used to seeing in grey

So I was browsing Pinterest, and all of these mental health awareness notices began to pop up. It gave me this idea. This poem is essentially just a ton of tiny poems mashed into one. The majority of these aren’t based off of personal experiences, and I even had to do some research on some of these, but these are a few of the most well known mental illnesses.

Depression
Goodnight I say as day turns to night
Turning off all my shadows, turning off my light
Feeling broken and blank and nothing but space
And I feel that this oxygen is going to waste

Anxiety
Stuck in my head with so many fears
And my nights are spent thrashing with nightmares and tears
With a head full of thoughts that all seem to scream
Keep on worrying you idiot, it’s not just a dream

Bipolar Disorder
Sometimes I’m high then I come crashing down
Onto shards of glass from my manic crown
Black and white and then grey in between
Then I come back to earth to a battle unseen

OCD
Wondering whether the job was done right
Examine again, don’t let it out of my sight
Because if I do, who knows what could be
If I don’t do this now, I’ll never be free

PTSD
Behind a door and an armoured heart
Outside I’m fine, inside I’m torn apart
From memories and sights too many to forget
I wake up every night with a thinly veiled threat

Schizophrenia
What I see isn’t really there
Whether it be my lamp or a large pink bear
I live in confusion for there’s no real way out
Of this life that I’ve come to live, so full of doubt

Depersonalisation
I see what I’m doing, but I see from afar
For I won’t want to remember the pain from this scar
So I exit my body and I watch myself cry
But I don’t need a mirror to look myself in the eye

Insomnia
I lay on my bed wide eyed and awake
Wondering if tonight I’ll finally get a break
A dream or two, even a nightmare is welcome
Just to be asleep and comfortably numb

All of these things you don’t see or hear
You don’t hear me complain about my chronic fear
But we are all suffering quietly inside
Behind a smile and wide glassy eyes