Joshua
Somewhere long forgotten
In an alley dark and dirty
Sits a young man seeking solace
He looks fifty but he’s thirty
All day he begged and borrowed
For a bottle of deliverance
Just to get him to forget the cold
And his family’s indifference
They say that he is homeless
But he once had more than many
A home, a life a family
Didn’t need to count his pennies
Something happened to this young man
Something worse than nightmares could make up
He lost his mind, his thought process
And never seemed to wake up
When he was a younger man
People thought him a little strange
But still he tried to do all he could
Even after people labelled him deranged
He is the face of mental illness
He is the young man his family has forgotten
Even drink can’t stop his voices
He has reached his bottom
One day he will walk out
To the bridge that spans the river
Long ago he was black-balled and locked out
His wife left him but he could forgive her
After all who would want someone
Who stays hidden in the darkness
Drinking coffee smoking cigarettes
Cursing, swearing at the voices
He had once been sort of normal
He had lived and loved and laughed
But now as he stands on the edge of his final moment
He knows that was all just in the past
Don’t forget this man my friends
Don’t think that the pain was his only
He will leave behind a daughter
Who will grow up thinking him unholy
He leaves behind a mother
Who loved him before his birth
But no one kept up a friendship
While he walked upon the earth
Think not that this won’t happen
To anyone you know
One in five will need help
Statistics prove it’s so
This means a family member
Your wife, your brother or your dad
Maybe even one of your children
Could one day be just as bad
But don’t ever think for a moment
That it won’t happen to you
Because when the death bell tolls
It tolls for everyone our young friend knew
Leif Gregersen
October 11, 2014
http://www.edmontonwriter.com (links to fiction, non-fiction and poetry books)
YOU ARE READING
Poems From Inside Me
PoetryThis is a chapbook of poetry that led me to dedicate myself to writing, whether it be for money or simply to express myself. In this book I talk about family, love, loss and all the illusions that life brings us through.
