even the name of this place makes me sick to my stomach

maybe that’s why

I want to swim to heaven,
because this city has an infection.
No injection will **** this disease,
this treachery, this brutality;
So I'm going to swim to heaven,
back float--take my time, my rhyme,
will be the deep blue trip
to heaven.

The man waits patiently, twitching his hands every other second
He stands in a strong posture, but his skin is dead white
The look of sadness on his face, echoed by the tears in his eyes
As he thinks it through, he wonders what he could have done differently
Now he looks away every time the patient room door opens
His hair is slowly fading, as he kneels down to pray
He starts to make phone calls, reassuring his family that he is alright
All of the sudden the door opens, He silently looks up as the results are read
His ear tune out the one word that he prayed he would never have to hear.

The cake burned in the oven
The fridge broke down as well
The plumbing broke
& soaked the floor
This was the day from hell.

So much for cake & ice cream
So much for mopping up
I'm telling you, I have the flu
This day has been a flop!

Not gonna call a plumber
You know how $$$ goes
This happened on a Sunday
That's spendy doncha know!

I've HAIR that hurts, my buddy
I've such and aching head!
Is it a sin to just turn in?

I'll spend the day in bed!.

Catherine Jarvis
1/23/2020

In a moment of life, sweat running down my face
Bad case of shyness, silencing ones tongue from race
No sleep at nighttime, just seeing the sun rise
My senses all failing and my mind freezing over
A look in the mirror I didn’t recognise
Then it appeared as an hallucination
I heard her call for me
I had to slap myself over and over
This could just be a dream or this might just be heaven
Then it occurred to me, that I was on strong medication
The images and voices I heard that day
Were just from my imagination

Understand the Black Dog Illness
Not our choice (Not our choice)
Not our choice
Heaps of people with the Black Dog Illness
It doesn’t discriminate (It doesn’t discriminate)
It might just be lying in wait

Your mind is racing quickly, then goes into a frozen zone
You’ll have struggles daily, yearly, maybe to your gravestone
How you control yourself in the moment of the bark
Some handle it well, some can’t handle it at all

So phone a friend if needed
Say hello, was the answer what you’d expect?
They said, “How are you coping and sorry I left you, I shouldn’t disconnect?
And still those friends don’t call me, any day of the week
Sit by the phone, morning, afternoon and at night
Just to hear them speak

Understand the Black Dog Illness
Not our choice (Not our choice)
Not our choice
Society needs to talk to about the Black Dog Illness
So no one’s alone (So no one’s alone)
It might be you one day, ok

Moments of frustration
Retirement not an option
Some say, "You aren’t really sick, just your minds full of toxin”
And in the family circle
They gathered for an intervention
Some still don’t get what it controls
And they think it’s my own invention

Last thing I want to address
Is the way family and friends that you adore
Just think it’s easy going back to the way I was before
"Time will heal," said the bible man
"We are promised our own path
You can work it out, in your own time
But you have to believe!"