People Pass (A poem inspired by The Scream by Edvard Munch)
People pass They don’t see the pain I’m in A guy in the street just like them with problems no bigger than theirs My internal struggle is waiting to burst but nobody cares The bridge I’m on acts as a platform for my escape A jumping off point into the watery landscape No problems at the bottom of the river Freedom so close I almost shiver Even one smile may change the tide But people are busy I cry for help with my mouth open wide But they continue their stride as if to push me aside so I’ll fall over Into my aquatic enclosure My hands are glued to my face as if to hold my untamed mind in place Can’t pull them apart If only I could restart My knees bend without my command My body flies through the air like a plane unmanned Within a second I feel the cold start at me feet I fall further until my descent is complete Looking up at a world turned to aquamarine It’s finally quiet This place is serine The struggle stops The last bubble to the surface pops My vison fades The nightmare of feeling, a forgotten haze
Wrote this for a class a few years ago where we had to come up with a poem inspired by a famous painting.