The Voice
A musing on anxiety
There is a voice inside my head
That knows my hopes and fears
It feeds on everything I love
And steals away the years.
*
There is a voice within me
That drains my life of joy
And leaves behind the husk of
A shaking little boy.
*
There is a voice beside me
In the depths of night
It wraps its arms around me
And extinguishes my light.
*
The voice inside my head speaks
Of loss and pain and doubt
Of ebbing tides, of waning moons
Of life’s sand pouring out.
*
And where does this voice come from
That knows me oh-so-well?
This voice that strives to keep me
Locked in this anxious hell.
*
This voice likes to tell me
I’ll not amount to much
That any effort’s futile
And I start believing such.
*
This voice sees creation
As a fruitless waste of time
And it’s just not worth the effort
To try and make words rhyme.
*
And it's managed to convince me
To let my world shrink
That there is no harm in hiding
Because it’s safer not to think.
*
But another voice resides here,
From the murky depths it swims
And when it breaks the water
I know one day I’ll win.
About the Creator
J.P. Williamson
I am an English Literature graduate on the autistic spectrum who is looking to finally get into creative writing, expand my skill set and connect with other creatives.
Reader insights
Outstanding
Excellent work. Looking forward to reading more!
Top insights
Compelling and original writing
Creative use of language & vocab
Easy to read and follow
Well-structured & engaging content
Heartfelt and relatable
The story invoked strong personal emotions
Masterful proofreading
Zero grammar & spelling mistakes
On-point and relevant
Writing reflected the title & theme
Keep reading
More stories from J.P. Williamson and writers in Poets and other communities.
Comments (9)
Absolutely beautifully written.
Excellent poem! The pacing and rhyme scheme flows nicely and the content is relatable. Congrats on a well-deserved Top Story!
I genuinely never thought anything I published on here would be read by anyone, so recognition like this is beyond amazing. Thank you all so much for reading and commenting, it means so much to me!
Perfection, self ~ reflection. Harmonic melancholy well presented. Felt every word.
Congrats on this incredibly relatable and emotive top story! I thoroughly enjoyed the flow of this and how well written it is.
Well done.
I am not a poet, my words hold no value. I only know what I like and this I like. Congratulations
Beautiful, and relatable. Don't let your anxiety shrink you, shrink your anxiety. :)
I stopped to like this part way through...you'd convinced me by halfway. Then at the end I subscribed. This spoke deeply to me. Resonated with your words so much. This is evidence enough that it is worth you creating and ignoring that voice that tells you not to. Congrats on an astonishing Top Story!