Does any other adult feel
Like they are a wall?
Stopping waves of pain crossing
From one side to the other?
Sometimes that wall
breaks
Or is insufficiency high,
Then the pain washes
Into unprepared garden spaces
Where inky torrents
Do their worst damage.
No more bright flowers
In once pleasant beds
Only sticky detritus:
Dark mud
A lasting stain
That cannot be
Washed away.
Passive Impressions 
Colm, I hope you are OK. I’ve received these two poems in my email and am worried about you. Please don’t do anything to yourself. Call a family member, friend or hotline. Copied from the Internet: “Cork — If you are in distress and need help now, you can call the Pieta House 24 hour helpline at 1800 247 247 or call Samaritans at 116 123.” I’ve suffered from clinical depression most of my life, and I’ve built that wall back up over and over and over in my 65 years. Life is worth living, despite seemingly insurmountable pain, and if you give it time, you will eventually get back to believing that. Please take care of yourself and remember that your life is precious and matters, even if it seems that it doesn’t right now. If you’re not in danger, then your poems are beautiful, particularly this one, as are your photographs (I follow you on Instagram too). Take care, Marie.
I am ok, Marie and not in danger. Thank you for your kind comment and your concern. I wrote these poems today out of concern for someone else. It was a way to explore what that person was going through while querying my own role in having made a situation worse while trying to do my best. Life can be so complicated and poetry seems to get to places I can’t describe in prose or normal conversation. Thank you again.
I’m relieved to hear that. It was a lovely poem. Yes, life is complicated, especially lately. I wish the best for your friend and for you and yours. Oh, and I think at the very beginning, I used Marie as my name, but looking at other posts, I used my real name, Connie, so,
Best wishes from Connie 🙂
Thank you Connie. It’s much appreciated. It’s some years since the cause of all this reared it’s head, but closure has been more elusive than I imagined. Sometimes such moments are needed as we often live our lives thoughtlessly. Reflection can be very insightful, even after the passage of a long period of time.