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Depression
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By Peter O
Other Poems by Peter O


Depression

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but depression drains one's strength." Proverbs 17:22
Father,
With the eyes of a child I look up to You with wonder;
With the tongue of  winter I call to the Spirit, Holy --
My Advocate, my Paraclete, the One You sent
So that I will never be alone, the One to be by my side:
When my soul burns with a weak and weary flame and
I lay in DISCOURAGEMENT,
Come, be by my side;
When drained of joy, love void, soul hollow, EMPTY.
Come, be by  my side;
When my soul is loud with the chant of harsh crows,
Self-scolding, self-beating, self-PUNISHING,
Come, be by my side;
When REGRETS rise from my soul's underworld and
The dead come to live with the living,
Come, be by my side.
When I seek huddle in sleep, or the fever of dringk and drugs,
All ESCAPE'S hunger,
Come, be by my side;
When the craft of SHAME hides my dirt-secrets and
Squeezes out my sense of being Your child,
Come, be by my side;
When SADNESS withers joy and coffins hope,
Come, be by my side;
When lonely and my skin is as ice and
My soul stands on an Artic tundra, ISOLATED,
Come be by my side;
When the whirlpool of OBSESSING on death- thoughts
Suck up my soul,
Come. be by my side;
When the stares and glances of others
Prison me with fear of NOT BELONGING,
Come, be by my side.
Father,
I believe, not with a parrot-faith,
But one of muscle, that THE SPIRIT will always
Be by my side -- my Advocate, my Paraclete.


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Submitted: Monday, July 9, 2012

Last Updated: Tuesday, July 10, 2012

About the Poet
I am 79 years of age. For the past nine years I have been retired, after forty years, from the field of alcoholism and drug abuse in New York City. I am married and we have two grown sons and two grand-sons. My life changed through a grace-experience in 1967. Writing Christian prayers is a particular interest of mine. This came about by a growing awareness of the spiritual in recovery from addictions. I choose, intellectually and emotionally, to believe the Triune God of the Sared Scriptures as my Healer.


Other Poems by Peter O


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