459- Qui Vive - A poem

 

Yesterday, I wrote another mental health related poem, this time about GAD and panic attacks.

The image is my own, artistically edited. Here goes.

Edit 5/05/2023 : a title is added :

Qui Vive. 

It's a red alert, deafening the voice of logic, 

blaring like a tempest in a teacup, 

Apprehension about things tiny, small and big, 

Imagination of impeding doom overwhelms, 

the brain wiped out by the loud sounds, 

Thoughts zooming in the mind, with images  of disaster, 

The body doubts its own mechanism, should I stay, 

or should I go, it asks, am I petrified at the arrival of danger, 

or is my heart stomping, beating out of control ? 

Are my breathes shallow or fast?  I know I've no time to regain balance,

Time spins out of reckoning, eternity has passed since the first alarm sounded,

 In the split second it took for this storm to gather overhead,

Will action be swift to react to this threat, 

Or will I freeze and lose my identity in this gulf?

The raft has been beaten by the waves, broke and capsized, 

Have I drowned at sea, or has my body been thrown ashore and hit the rocks?

For the senses are in a state of havoc, it's impossible to predict any direction, 

Mind's backlashed to a distant unknown past,  and froze the body in dismay, 

Agitation swelled at the mere idea of repeated scenarios, I may 

have forgotten long ago... 

Breath levelling back to normal, I find myself far away from sea and shore, 

I am back where I was, wherever I was, confusion is lifting its veil, 

I'm not in the past or the future disaster, I'm here, safe and sound,

It hasn't been an eternity like I felt, but mere moments elapsed, 

Crisis is over, but I know that the tempest will stir me again...  

(30/07/2022)