In the crooked town of Shiver-Sham,
Where thoughts go bam and feelings wham,
I woke to find my mind askew—
A Shadow-Thing said, “How d’you do?”
It slinked around my cluttered head,
It whispered things I never said,
It tapped my fears like tiny drums
And laughed, “Let’s see what chaos comes.”
I chased a thrill to drown the din,
A neon fix, a trembling grin,
But every high I tried to catch
Just hatched another mental scratch.
The Shadow-Thing grew tall and thin,
It danced beneath my fragile skin,
It said, “Let’s play the Wanting Game—
You lose, I win, it’s all the same.”
I stumbled through the Wobble-Ward,
Where every thought felt chipped or scored,
Where memories warped like melted clocks
And voices knocked like phantom knocks.
But one dim night, the sky turned still,
A softer hum replaced the thrill,
A lantern flickered in my chest
And whispered, “Try a gentler quest.”
The Shadow-Thing still lurks nearby,
It doesn’t vanish when I try,
But now I walk with steadier feet
Through tangled roads and incomplete.
Recovery’s not a tidy climb—
It bends, it breaks, it eats your time,
But even shadows lose their bite
When met with patience, day and night.
So here I stand in Shiver-Sham,
Not cured, not doomed, just who I am—
A wanderer learning how to grow
Inside this Shadow-Shamble Show.