There is a gravity to sadness,
a slick weight that drags me
down into a rusted well,
walls wet with old despair.
Anxiety, like spiders,
hides in the dark.
I claw at the edges,
my nails breaking,
fingers smeared with darkness
and blood.
I jump.
I fall.
The ladder’s missing three rungs.
Even the echo forgets me.
Shadows curl around my ankles,
whispering, laughing,
like old friends turned enemies.
I put one foot in front of the other,
fingers raw,
knees scraped,
breath ragged
as smoke
in a Neighborhood Tavern.
Hope drips in
through cracks
in the walls,
thin light
like whiskey
in a chipped glass,
long-lost,
bitter,
warming my chest.
I rise.
I’m lifted.
I move on.
Sanctuary waits,
an ink pen glows
in the candlelight,
and I take it,
put it to the paper,
and it all resides
deep in my chest.
-
Author:
Thomas W Case (Pseudonym) (
Offline) - Published: January 20th, 2026 08:44
- Comment from author about the poem: Thank you to everyone who reads, listens, and keeps showing up here. The support matters more than you probably know. My books are available on Amazon. https://www.amazon.com/stores/Thomas-W.-Case/author/B0CL2RKDGX?ref=sr
- Category: Unclassified
- Views: 8
Offline)
Comments5
Black despair calls out of this poem. It claws at the mind with those same broken nails and I taste acrid water scum chewing on bugs and brush cobwebs from my eyes. It is vivid and grimy full of grit to chew on. Well written Thomas
Much appreciated.
You are welcome Thomas
Well written Thomas
As we move and get through, the comfort of paper joining the writing instrument is a true comfort of depth🕊️🙏🏻
Good write T. Should I appear on video and sing my poems? Aww, why they say:' Noooooo, unbearable!' heehee.
Your poem vividly captures the journey through depression and anxiety toward self-expression and renewal. It uses visceral, physical imagery — falling, clawing, bleeding — to represent emotional struggle, and contrasts darkness with the faint, growing light of hope. Writing itself becomes the sanctuary at the end — the act that transforms suffering into meaning. Well Done Brother
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