Hot tears let go,
streaming down a face that feels far away.
My heart beats fast—
faster than the racing mind,
but the room is frozen.
A chest screaming.
A mouth gone silent.
Quiet pleas try to escape
the spiked ball in my throat,
whispering to stay
in the shadows.
The body loses its weight.
The sound in my ears begins to muffle.
Legs shake.
Hands twitch.
Nobody sees.
I am just a shell sitting alone,
while my soul
looks down
from above.
Is this real?
Or am I seeing the world in a way,
That only I can see.
Is it possible to feel nothing,
But everything at the same time?
To feel yourself floating,
But carrying the weight of the world
On your shoulders?
What if you are the weight of the world,
And too much for it to carry.
Voices echo.
Doors slam.
The adrenaline rush,
When a footstep seems a little too harsh
I feel myself falling,
Plunging into an abyss.
A sudden jolt makes me quiver.
I collapse onto my bed.
How can tomorrow worry about itself,
while I’m still thinking about yesterday?
When will yesterday stop feeling like today,
And when will time start to matter?
I am invisible.
I am safe when I am unseen.
I can deflect the stares of glaring eyes.
I forget what fullness feels like,
So I stay hungry.
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141,015 Literary Works • 673,819 Reviews
i love this poem simply because you start thinking this will be about the experience of a panic attack, only to be surprised by the author’s in depth knowledge about mental health. people usually only talk about the quiet, confused side of an attack, but forget the other things such as dissociation and spiralling. this quote beautifully explains the dissociation without over explaining or making it melodramatic.
overall, this entire poem can be seen as a cry for help from someone overloaded and exhausted from their social environment. i get the feeling that the individual may also be hyper aware and anxious about people or being seen, and perhaps things aren’t actually what they seem like. we only get their perspective, after all.