Poor Lukey
Poor Lukey knows of the black dog of despair
Just thirty years of age with gray in his brown hair
A mental illness has ruined his life
To it he has lost his children who are with their mum his ex wife
In and out of mental institutions his mind in disarray
One without a future that does seem sad to say
At present in a suicidal mood life for him Earthly Hell
In a mental institution in his padded cell
One must pity poor Lukey for the hard life he endure
He is a good person in many ways pure
Of any hope of happiness he lives in despair
For people like him life does seem so unfair
The black dog of despair has entered his mind
But in his saner moments he is honest and kind.
poem by Francis Duggan
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He Battles His Dogs Of Despair
The years have left him looking gray
And he has known a far better day
Around his balding head he has lost more hair
As he battles his dogs of despair.
Though from it's side effects weight he does gain
Medication it does keep him sane
And though all of his good days are gone
His fight is to keep keeping on.
And to live for as long as he can
For what use is a dead woman or man
So he will live till the reaper's call
The one who claims the life of all.
One who has contemplated suicide
When his will to live all but had died
But he is one who has hung in there
For to battle his dogs of despair.
In life 'tis not easy to win
But he never threw the towel in
He bravely faced life's road ahead
Fortune do favour the brave 'tis said.
Mental illness it has ruined his life
Robbed him of the chance of a wife
But to his great gift of life he says yes
As he battles with illness and stress.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Go Mental
Out of the hospital out against my will
Life is so beautiful Ive gone mental
Mental mental
Ive killed my family they thought I was an oddity
Life is so beautiful I am a vegetable
Mental mental
Ive gone mental Ive gone mental
Staring at my goldfish bowl popping phenobarbitol
Life is so beautiful Ive gone mental mental mental
Sitting on my window sill life is so beautiful
Ive become irrational Ive gone mental
Mental mental Ive gone mental
song performed by by Ramones
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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But Don't Despair
Despair, if you must –
But how's it going to pull you through?
Despair, when you trust
Naught since then there's naught to do.
Despair, should you thrust
Aside your pride, your self-esteem.
And so despair, if it's dust,
The only substance that you deem.
Despair, when a gust
Of slightly breeze can break your stance.
And do despair, when lust
Is your interpretation of romance.
But don't despair, if you can care
About the plight of any other being.
And you can focus on the help,
Support, and altruistic further actions
For the seeing. Be believing,
As despair will start receding
All around – simply since you found
A way to steer you clear
From this: the very cause of your despair!
So give to others; give them all a helping lift:
Despair, you'll find will disappear –
And that has got to be a well-deserved
And saintly gift!
Copyright © Mark R Slaughter 2009
Rain of despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
despair despair despair despair despair despair despair
poem by Mark R Slaughter
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Despair Is Darkness
DESPAIR IS DARKNESS
Despair is darkness-
Despair is death inside and death in the world and death in one’s own sad soul-
Despair is no way out -
Despair is the place where one is forever stuck -
Despair is the realization that one has done what one could – and one is not going anywhere else-
Despair is the admission of failure-
Despair is no sign of help anywhere around-
Despair is so much lost-
Despair is one‘s life is over-
Despair is regret-
Despair is the sense that one will never have the time to have another chance -
Despair is ‘it’s finished’-
Despair is no way out-
Despair is going down and more down and more dark and more afraid all the time -
Despair is the scream which hurts and does not stop the hurting -
Despair is the understanding that even Death will not save one -
Despair is that the pain will never end-not even with death.
Despair is no way out again and again and again- without end.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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Happiness...Despair
While happiness is the twin sibling of
despair, it is despair that is
the stronger of the two.
In life. happiness are but fleeting moments.
Despair lurks forever in the shadows
of our mind and our hearts...until the
final darkness.
The Most Famous I Am Poem
The most famous I Am poem was penned by John Clare
When he was in Northampton mental asylum and burdened by care
A poem from all others that set him apart
For life's poor and forsaken a cry from the heart,
A poem by an aged poet lost in the lost years
The most famous I Am poem move many to tears
A poem written by one who knew about despair
That poem his reality such poems are rare
The most famous I Am poem tells of an Earthly Hell
Known by the fringe dwellers the mentally unwell
The song of an old poet forsaken and gray
The truth in his words is still living today
And though the renowned old wordsmith to the reaper long gone
His famous I Am poem it is living on.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Killers Eyes
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least thats what they say,
But it doesnt mean that you have the right to take life away.
How were we to know what was going on inside your mind.
You never let it show what was going on behind
Those killers eyes
Killers eyes
Youve seen your picture in the paper.
Youre little sisters pinned it on the wall.
She thinks youre in some kind of movie.
Imagine her surprise when she saw you on the news.
Reporters came around and asked for interviews.
So little compassion, so icy cool.
They say you were a poor boy, you know that life can be cruel.
Hate builds up from childhood, your world was a slum
But you havent got the right to blow it to kingdom come
How could we know what it was like inside a killers mind
It never really showed, you kept the secret deep inside
Those killers eyes
Killers eyes
You say the world is full of bullshit,
So you kill just as you see fit.
They say that youre a fanatic with a mission.
We all go through hell in some kind of way,
Can you tell me what its like to be there every day?
When you were young you had a vision
Whyd you go and do a thing like that?
And now we see you on the television.
Imagine our surprise when we saw you on the news,
And reporters came around and asked for interviews.
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least thats what they say,
But it doesnt mean that you have the right to take life away.
When you were just a child
Youd hide away when other children cried
But how were we to know
These tears that flowed were from a killers eyes
I see so little hope in you,
So much despair,
As I look in your eyes I wonder,
What thoughts linger there.
Life means nothing to you,
At least thats what they say,
But it doesnt mean that you have the right to take life away.
Those killers eyes
See the whites of their eyes
Those killers eyes
See the whites of their eyes
song performed by by Kinks
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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My Despair Comes And Goes
My Despair comes and goes
It is not the ultimate despair,
The despair of those who have forever lost hope
The despair of those who have lost what they never will regain
The despair of those for whom there is no way out
No way to begin again
No hope in any way forever
My Despair comes and goes
It is a small Despair compared to many others
When I am in it of course
I believe it like theirs Hopeless forever hopeless
But then a new day begins,
Or a friendly voice says a friendly word
Or something good and positive happens
Or the weather changes
Or some hurt goes away
Some sign comes
And slowly slowly
I am not there anymore.
My Despair comes and goes
It is not the worst Despair
Not yet-
Yesterday I was in Despair
Today I am almost already not
I pray my writing this
Will help some despairing reader feel
They too will hope again.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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A Most Famous I Am Poem
The most famous 'I Am' poem came from the pen of John Clare
When in Northampton mental asylum his type of person rare
Since when mentally unwell his best poems he did pen
One of the most amazing in his time of literary men.
The most famous 'I Am' poem of self does not boast
From the pen of one who to self never drunk a toast
A poor and mentally ill and near forgotten man
One close to the end of his tragic life span.
The most famous 'I Am' poem to it has a sad ring
'Tis not of the wonderful life it does sing
Now used as the anthem poem of the mentally ill
The most famous 'I Am' poem life's cup of dark sorrows does fill.
The most famous 'I Am' poem not a great song of life
But of one who had struggled with his inner strife
From the heart of a poor poet a cry of despair
The most famous 'I Am' poem from the pen of John Clare.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Nora Sullivan
In their cottage in Claraghatlea she lived with her only brother Dan
And she was way beyond mid life when i was a young man
Her name was Nora Sullivan one who was good and kind
And people of her type are rare and always hard to find.
She lived to a fairly good age and though her I'm never more to see
The mental pictures of her are etched in my memory
A mentor of my childhood years and a privilege to know
I spoke to her for the last time some twenty years ago.
She was a devout lady and religious in a good way
And of any other person she never had bad to say
When I return to Millstreet I will not see her again
But good and fond memories of her till my own end I'll retain.
I always will remember her for her warm smile and kind eyes
And she was an honest person so honourable and wise
The pathway to a moral life she always did pursue
And to her God and her higher self she always was so true.
poem by Francis Duggan
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You Feel Sad And Down
You feel sad and down life is not always fair
And of hope for the future you are in despair
In that you are not alone people like you everywhere
But when the going gets tough the tough hang in there
'Life is not meant to be easy' according to George Bernard Shaw
Though on life your own conclusions you can draw
Life is never easy for those on the poor side of the town
Where many do only know of ill renown
The victims of poverty due to birth circumstance
At any success in life they do stand little chance
Out of work and the economy at present doing quite bad
But at least you were born to a good mum and dad
And you've never once been to Poverty Street
Where many are Homeless without food to eat.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Despair Of The Early Morning
DESPAIR OF THE EARLY MORNING
Despair of the early morning
Despair of the darkness
Despair of the Despair
Despair of Old Age
Despair of the road closed
Despair of nothing to do
Despair of nowhere to go
Despair of endless errands
Despair of money running out
Despair of the message of Despair
One transmits to those one loves.
Despair that has to be resisted
Despair that the light of the day
Will help me overcome
Despair I will pray my way out of
Despair I will in the course of the day
Sometime overcome.
Not the great Despair
The unending Despair
The final Despair.
The small Despair of who I am and where I am now.
The Despair that still can be resisted,
By the writing of a few awkward lines
Early in the morning.
poem by Shalom Freedman
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One Has To Wonder Why
John Clare was the English language greatest poet of Nature
So much of Nature's ways the man did know
But he died in a mental institution
In Northampton asylum near to fifteen decades ago
Just like Vincent Van Gogh the Dutchman a World renowned artist
His paintings are sold for millions today
Yet he died poor and mentally unstable
At his own hands in quite a tragic way
William Cowper was a literary genius
A man who too was mentally unwell
He never did enjoy the fame he earned
And life for him it was an Earthly hell
James Clarence Mangan is the National Bard of Ireland
He died in mid life at forty six years old
A poor Dubliner in Ireland's years of famine
His death was of consumption we are told
Janet Frame was a great New Zealand writer
But she was seldom happy in her mind
Her life story is not a happy story
Though her equal would be very hard to find
Stephen Foster was America's greatest songwriter
Of him true greatness cannot be denied
But fame in his lifetime failed to make him happy
And 'twas of alcoholic poisoning that he died
Paul Robeson one of the World's greatest singers
He died a very disappointed man
A victim of politics and racism
Yet his fame on it does not have a time span.
Poverty, madness and racism not a barrier to greatness
As the lives of many greats does testify
But in their lives some for their genius not rewarded
And why this should be one has to wonder why?
poem by Francis Duggan
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Booby Trap
perfect beauty
from toronto
new attraction
or some heartthrob
was it all just a deathtrap,
pulled me in and then shut snaps? stupid.
did it make you
come to get me?
or am i just
going mental?
i am not a pushover.
how did i get run over? stupid.
play like a lil bitty boy. (play on)
with your grubbery toy (play on)
oh, its just a matter time (play on)
till the day im gonna get mine.
i am not a
play like
did it make you
come to get me?
or am i just
going mental? (going mental)
or am i just (or am i just)
going mental? (going mental)
or am i just (or am i just)
going mental? (going mental)
(or am i just)
(going mental)
(or am i just)
(going mental)
i am not
song performed by by Weezer
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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Of Hopes For Our Future
Of hopes for our future why should we despair
As long as our lungs breathe in life giving air
Of happiness and prosperity all hopes cannot be gone
As long as the will is still there for to keep keeping on.
With the hard times we've met with we've learned to cope
And as long as there's life in us there's always hope
Our will to live stronger than our wish to die
And death is forever give life one more try.
So many have suicided beacuse of lost love
They could not hang in there when push came to shove
There cannot be any glory in suicide
Your will to live weak if for lost love you died.
Our crosses in life may be heavy to bear
But our will to live on keeps us hanging in there
Like the champion boxer who rise off the floor
To go toe to toe and to fight on some more.
Of hopes for our future why should we despair
When a broken heart is never beyond repair
And though one has to lose for another to win
When the going is at it's toughest the tough never give in.
poem by Francis Duggan
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One Little Girl
She won’t make a sound
Won’t ask to be saved
Because there’s no-one around
No-one to give the attention she craved
But not once does she cry
Nor does despair know her name
Alone she lives in their lie
Trapped in a tortuous game
You she her standing there
No bruises show nor can she tell
Doesn’t know her life is unfair
For their fun it’s her body they sell
But not once will she say
“I am scared”, nor will she scream
Because she thinks it’s the only way
That she can live with a soul so unclean
This girl barely of age
Sits there alone in pain
In their deathly mental cage
Do you think she is happy or sane?
poem by Rebecca Pepper
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Sonnet: Wish You a Happy Journey, Friend
Relax doctor, relax; just go abroad!
Forget your work-spot files and problems here;
Why to despair when you believe in God?
Present your paper without any fear.
Maybe, this trip could soothen your mind too;
Perhaps, it is a blessing in disguise;
Despair should not ever overcome you;
Too much of guilt is also most unwise.
Whatever had happened- is a thing of past;
Perhaps, God wants you to be much better;
Forget your sadness and be cheerful fast;
Let not despair become your mind’s fetter.
But never give up your good things in life,
And pray to God whenever you’re in strife.
7-4-2002
poem by John Celes
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I remember once I read a book on mental illness and there was a nurse that had gotten sick. Do you know what she died from? From worrying about the mental patients not being able to get their food. She became a mental patient.
quote by Ornette Coleman
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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You May Feel Despondent
You may feel despondent and wish you were dead
But don't quit on life's battle good days are ahead
Financially embarrassed at the present maybe
But your luck will change you'll know prosperity
Do not quit on life's battle though of hope you despair
And the going may be tough but you should hang in there
You may feel your chances of success are gone
But do not quit now when life's battle is on,
Buy a lotto ticket your luck may be in
And a huge first division jackpot you even may win
Of life you may despair but to hope you must cling
And who knows tomorrow good tidings may bring
Though down on your luck people like you not rare
Why quit life though your cross seems heavy to bear.
poem by Francis Duggan
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Hopeless Bleak Despair
I never knew what everybody meant by endless, hopeless bleak despair
Until one day when I found out
The first time I ever left my house
It saw me and followed me home
And stayed with me for my whole life
For years and years I wandered the earth
Condemned to a life of bleak despair
Then one day I looked around and found
It had disappeared
All this bleak despair
It was always there
And then one day it disappeared
In a puff of smoke
In an unceremonious way
One day it disappeared
All I had ever wanted in my life was only to be free of it
It drove away my family
It made me lose my job
Whenever anybody saw it
Theyd say get out of here
For years and years I wandered the earth
Sick of my life, looking forward to death
The one day I looked around and found
It had disappeared
All this bleak despair
It was always there
And then one day it disappeared
In a puff of smoke
In an unceremonious way
One day it disappeared
For years and years I wandered the earth
Until I died and went to hell but my
Despair had ascended to heaven
Thats how I finally got rid of it
song performed by by They Might Be Giants
Submitted by Lucian Velea
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