I choose to veil, and under my dark veil, I see;
The world settles in my shoulders, with voices heavy on their own.
This burden I see, and this burden I hear,
The cries of broken souls, weeping before the words from those who do not understand,
And so this burden I must carry, this burden, which shouldn’t be a burden;
If only words become kind and people would open their eyes and see the light-
Lift the darkness above my veil, and hear our voices that speak a thousand words.
Hear our souls sing songs that no one can listen, but only to those who had inhaled the light;
Hear our souls proclaim courage over adversity, and hear our stories of triumph.
I choose to veil, and under my dark veil, I see;
Besides the wide river of my home, I talk to the trees and speak to the river,
I rest myself before the air, and sing with the birds- a song of hope.
And under my veil I see, the river I loved with a thousand stories living beneath her;
So I call out to her: “Have you missed me, for I was gone so long into the pit of darkness?
And so, how can I stop yearning for you, and the comfort you give?”
The river replies: “I have seen a thousand souls talking to me with no veils above their heads;
They call out to me beneath me, and above me, over the birds and the sky.
And you, my friend, who told you that your hallucinations could separate your longing,
For the world to understand you and listen to the thousands of stories which weep?
Who told you that, your struggles would set us apart, and who will blow your veil away?”
I am here, I am here; lead me, my love, and I pray that people would open their eyes.
A poem in free verse with lots of…metaphors. I’m sorry that this isn’t the best poem I wrote in the past- maybe my English major skills are failing. There is an extended metaphor on the veil. I personally wear the veil to church as a symbol of humility that I want to follow. In this poem I put this metaphor to show that I want to be humble to hear those around me who are suffering. Anyways, I just use the ‘burden’ to represent the stigma placed on people with schizophrenia. I know that I had to endure lots of negative comments about my illness. And the river- I’m mostly talking to represent people who are unrecognized because of their illness and therefore their stories are not known.
I hope everyone is doing okay! See you all soon. Happy writing!
Love your poem!