Lock Me Up

Supposed to be writing a 1500 word essay on schizophrenia... but I decided to write a poem instead! If only I could submit this... 

Lock Me Up

Lock me up and throw away the key, 

Over medicate me,

Do what it takes to bring you peace, 

Just don't say it's for me, please.

I'm unstable, unreliable, unloveable,

You're impatient, unkind, inflexible.

You just don't know what to do with me,

So you lock me up, throw away the key.

Some days I am fine as a feather, 

Some days I am really off my rocker,

Tell me if you're my friend in good weather,

Or are you riding on my roller coaster? 

I feel your whiplash, see your pain, 

Feel our guilt flood us like rain.

If only I could be what you wanted, 

If only you could be what I needed. 

Some say schizophrenia is just a label, 

Others say it's a lifetime sentence,

Some say it's a way to disable,

I say I want more than tolerance. 

Tolerate me if you really must, 

But love me if love lives in your heart,

Just be honest if you know how,

I'm the one being torn apart. 

If I speak does anyone hear, 

If I scream I instil fear,

Yet I see things that are not here,

Voices and shadows ever near. 

Is this a disease or an illness,

Or just a mental state of mind?

Call me mad or insane, 

But we're really the same kind.

On a spectrum east to west,

You're what's normal and the best,

I'm on the extreme as some would say, 

Lock me up, throw the key away. 

Pav 11th June 2021