Anxiety, A Poem

It feels like you can’t breathe.

It feels like your skin is on fire.

It feels like you have no end point.

It feels like sounds hammering into your skin.

It feels waiting for the other foot to fall.

It feels like never ending terror.

It feels like endless tension.

Constant high alert.

It feels like wanting to die.

It feels like you will never die.

It feels like betrayal waiting around every corner.

It feels like eyes darting, watching always watching .

It feels like hair standing on end.

It feels like drowning.

It feels inescapable,

all consuming

It’s much bigger than fear

This constant waiting

For the bad thing

To come.

It is misery and mindless

It is horror and mind full

It is wanting rest

It is dreading sleep

It is the fear of loneliness

It is the terror of company

It is unprecedented energy

It is bone deep exhaustion

It is the never ending,

inescapable waiting

For the bad thing

To come.

It is fear that the bad thing

Will not come

And you will be left waiting

Endlessly waiting

photo credit: Joyce Kelly