Sketch illustrating the feeling I tried to describe in words

So,
Bird of darkness, you are back again,
nesting forcefully in my crown.

Thrusting your claws into the depths of my heart.
Stubbornly refusing to be shooed away.

You spread out your wings
not to take flight,
but to cover everything under your gloom.

You stifle me.
Repeatingly
pounding your angry beak against my head.

Oh, when will you leave my branches again?
Lift your heavy weight of me
and let the sun flow back into my emptiness?

And why have you chosen me
To make yourself at home?

Oh, when will you return to your own darkness
again
and give me space to breath?

…to be?

(Sometimes I get overwhelmed by feelings of depression and on the advice of my friend and  healing facilitator Jutta Dobler I decided to try and embrace the feeling instead of fighting it. And this is what came out of it – the text and a few days later I made the quick sketch while waiting for the dentist. I am no poet, but still thought I would like to share these scribbles with you.)

Text ©Imke Rust