topic If in Staying well

If

HelenM — Thu, 26 Jun 2014 18:15:23 GMT

If ....... Rudyard Kipling had been a depressive

If you can keep your head when your mind

Is losing it and blaming it on you.

If you can trust yourself when depression doubts you

But make allowance for the illness too,

If you can wait and not be tired by waiting

For appointments that don't materialise,

Or feeling hated, don't give way to hating,

And still see the good and not be paranoid.

If you can dream and not make dreams your nightmares,

If you can think - and not make thoughts your pain,

If you can meet with chaos and disaster

And carry on as if you are quite sane;

If you can bear to hear the truth you've told

Changed by nurses to show your errant ways,

Or let the story of your life unfold,

And so admit you've spoilt so many days.

If you can make one heap of all your tablets

And bin them and not even give a toss,

And lose and start again at the beginning

And never tell the doctor of your loss;

If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew

To wait for the bus and make yourself get on,

And so hold on when there is nothing in you

But the driver's voice shouting 'Hey - hold on!'

If you can walk with crowds and yet not panic,

Or walk alone - but never feel the fear,

If you can keep your friends when you are manic

Because these friends believe you are so dear;

If you can fill the unforgiving minute

With sixty seconds thinking what you ought ter,

Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it,

And - which is more - you'll be sane my daughter!

If

Struggler — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 03:52:41 GMT

HelenM

Thank you for sharing such an exquisite poem. The ability to use words has always been my weakness. If only I were half as good as you!

Struggler

If

AGrace — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 06:05:50 GMT

Hi Helen,

Thanks for sharing Kipling's poem, he was a brilliant writer. I wonder what the impact would be if we took the word "if" out of the poem?...it becomes a little more affirming I think.

AGrace

If

geoff — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 14:42:25 GMT

dear Helen, thanks for this amazing poem.

It's a wonder how not only you but others as well can pull these poems out of the air.

You must have reading some inspirational books. L Geoff. x

If

HelenM — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:44:51 GMT

Thank you all for your lovely comments. For a few years I wrote a number of poems on depression, probably to help myself cope. I'll probably post others now and then - it makes me feel good when people like my poems.

Helen x

If

HelenM — Fri, 27 Jun 2014 15:47:45 GMT

Geoff, if only I could pull advice out the air like you. You seem to have sussed out depression well. Twelve years on and I still feel like a novice.

Helen