Schizophrenia

She smiles when we look at her,

But when we turn away she sneers.

She hears the words we do not say,

They are her messengers of fear.

She’ll ask why we’re laughing,

Please don’t get mad or cry;

She thinks we’re making fun of her,

We will never understand why.

The voices tell her false truths and lies,

She trusts them more than her family,

She thinks we will send her to a hospital,

The voices tell her we are her enemy.

She asks if she will be taken away soon,

And I tell her not to be afraid.

But she continues to ask, day after day,

I wish that her illness would fade away.

She calls others in her world evil and dumb,

And tells me I'm being manipulated by them.

But I am so tired of my crazy mother,

That I’d do anything to start over again.

-Written on 8/2/04 when I was 19.