DEPRESSED 101

My depression is working overtime and charging me extra. Can’t bribe him with a day off no matter the weather. Told him to get moving but he dropped the anchor. This lake is filled with tears and I ain’t getting better. I put it in a memorandum and even wrote it in a letter. He just laughed at me, shouted, and gave the middle finger. The only way I can quiet him is with some liquor. He follows me every year but here’s the kicker.
He mirrors me and worries me and is in every picture. The funny thing, the longer he dreams, the less I remember.

© Delia Ross. 2019

Love Story

It’s a love story from the dead to the dead
Rotating cyclones of he said, she said
It isn’t what I meant here’s what I mean instead
Constantly sending each other gifts of dread
You wanted to be heard, now your face is turning red

But I’m sorry, you’re sorry, it’s all we ever had
Now we’re feeling worse, we are always feeling bad
Our circles quickly dropping unless we stopped trying to add
Try to greet you all and you respond like you are mad
I’m certain all I wanted was for us feeling a tad less sad

Actions and words never meeting in the middle
And every single wound leaves us all so very brittle
Consequences come at you hard to read like a riddle
But everyone thinks they know how to love just a little
You swear it isn’t you but here it comes another missile

I swear we’re all in hell it doesn’t take a degree
You’re always on the run, you barely ever take a knee
I know I’m paranoid the devil’s always after me
Blinding us with hate or lust I can’t convince you all to see
I’m just curious if any of you really do feel free

You build these walls and cages but who do they protect
You haven’t convinced me that your life is so perfect
I wonder if any of you clearly understand yet
It’s doubtful though so I’m passing on this bet
I’ll try again and maybe this time I will be more direct

Okay another verse, perhaps a message you can understand
None of this can work if we don’t give a helping hand
I live here, you live there, we all share this land
Love is not something to hoard, set it free unmanned
Love it knows the way so let it lead our command

© Delia Ross. 2019

house of sadness

dreary of loitering in the house of ache
found abandoned & rotted next to a bloody lake
stopped by to visit when i needed me a break
thought i could stomach being wounded by another snake
broken statues forgotten in my honors sake
you’re terribly rotten for pinching me awake
i was resting soundly til you pierced me with a stake
now fully aware my existence is a mistake
every move wrong no matter which i take
10 reasons to hate you and on that hand i can shake
so if you’d like to visit, a new road you’ll need to make
i’m just a ghost at least you know i never was a fake

© Delia Ross. 2019

BROKEN TICKER

I do not want it back
This broken heart of mine
It’s been broken now
For the longest time

Tried to fix it
But it has a tick
Under me where it dwells

The tick so loud
Sometimes I want
To kick it straight to hell

Even froze the thing-
Can’t feel anything
But it knows my address well

It’s a subtle ding
Yet I hear it ping
And it makes me want to yell

Tried to send it home
Won’t leave me alone
As far as I can tell

Put a sign outside
With the words FREELOVE wide
Not one fell for the sale!

Watched everyone walk by
Not a tear in their eye
But they all wish me well

© Delia Ross. 2019

Why won’t this heart leave me alone?

Heart Failure

All my plans haven’t gone away
They’ve really just been delayed

People they fret I can’t explain
They all just sort of strayed

It’s not my style to beg or plead
I sometimes require aid

They all want something from me
I have nothing for trade

Many years spent on this journey
Every direction came a grenade

You tell a different story
That isn’t the life that you portrayed

Why do you get all the glory
While I’m prisoner in this stockade

No need for you to hurry
My heart rotted and decayed

© Delia Ross. 2019