Defining The Miseries (Poetry)

Despair’s a furtive little creature
poison spines along its back
and it grumbles out fair warning
when it’s aching to attack

How it claws into the conscience
where it eats away all night
teeth like razor blades for chewing
with such savage appetite

Guilt’s another nasty beastie
he’s a brother to Despair
and he lurks in murky corners
picking worries from grey hair

He is miserable by nature
bites his ingrown nails a lot
tends to snivel and get angry
painful feelings in a knot

Doubt’s the mother of Depression
a long worm that slips and slides
finds a gap when Sense is sleeping
crawls in quietly and hides

Melancholy’s a sly monster
a six-leggéd streak of blue
flying silent as a feather
a cold sorrow seeping through

Then there’s Madness — who’s a horror
gnawing fiercely at the brain
and impervious to reason
all its logic sounds insane

Lastly Hopelessness — a cling-on
who’s not helpful in the least
a dead weight — nought but a burden
has the brow forever creased

Enemies — those seven stalkers
who predate each straying thought
best to shoot such killjoy hunters
leave all happy dreams uncaught