Alexithymia

Have you heard of alexithymia?
I hadn't until recently,
It means you struggle to put to words,
Your feelings, at least decently.

A game-changer for poets,
Who Express feelings through words,
Who weave intricate patterns,
Dragging others to their worlds.

It's true sometimes its hard,
To put words to feelings,
Those images inside your head,
Have no sentence and no reason.

We don't just feel with our hearts,
Or even just our skin,
We don't feel with only our brains,
We feel with all within.

Imagine wind upon your face,
Tickling, soft and cool,
The gentlest of breezes,
Caressing your body smooth.

Now imagine a gale,
Whipping your hair around,
Stinging your face and freezing,
Your limbs down to the ground.

Imagine the feeling of loss,
When a loved one leaves you,
The hollow in your gut,
The dropping feeling too.

Imagine the joy of finding,
Someone you thought long lost,
The jump of your insides,
The sense of hope without cost.

Imagine the contentment of sitting,
In a quiet spot in the sun,
With no deadlines or stress,
Just simple smooth existence.

Now imagine a raging storm,
When you ought to be out in society,
The fear of braving the winds and rain,
The cold, the wet, the anxiety.

All those feelings are normal,
But imagine if they had no words,
No way to explain the feeling,
No way of making it heard.

Now imagine you're inside your head,
All alone in your thoughts so deep,
And you wish to yourself that you could,
Make people see the ideas you keep.

Imagine feeling so trapped,
But not knowing the word "trapped",
Imagine feeling love,
Without understanding the fact.

Imagine crying so loud,
And people ask you whats wrong,
And you know exactly the reason,
But no words can help you explain.

Imagine feeling locked in your body,
Without even knowing you do,
Your aware of the feeling of course,
But that doesn't give you a clue.

You can't make someone feel what you feel,
No matter how hard you try,
Which is why us humans use words,
In the hope that people know why.

We explain our worries and problems,
Because of the language we bear,
But if words had never existed,
How instead would we ever share.

For a person with alexithymia,
That's exactly how life feels,
A jumble of mixed up emotions,
Without knowing if their real.

It's a mess of discomfort and sadness,
As they struggle to find the right words,
And I know this can often be hard,
Which is why I write this record.

So for anyone out their suffering,
With an inability to explain,
Whats happening deep in your heart,
Whats causing you daily pain.

Simply show people this poem,
To tell them how hard it can be,
I suppose it saves you struggling,
To find the words you can't see.

I hope this can help in some way,
To make others understand,
And I pray you continue on stronger,
With this tiny helping hand.