The Silent Killer

 

It came along with the gentleness of a breeze,

Carefully wrapping itself around him;

Unbeknownst to him, enclosing itself,

Into his dream with relative ease.

 

It kept growing once it claimed him,

Slowly sucking out his life like a parasite;

Till it eventually evolved enough to become

As real a part of him as any other.

 

Slowly but surely, on an upward trajectory,

Making itself heard in his mind;

Introducing itself as a shady stranger–

One that would stay for a while but eventually leave.

 

Except that it never left–it festered,

It’s presence a melancholy triumph for the boy;

For now, he realized what was going on,

He was alone in his solitary company.

 

He decided to fight, but was it ever worthwhile?

Fighting against something the others claimed

Was only a phase–‘a part of adolescence’,

And so he watched as it destroyed him internally.

 

Reassuring himself, he assumed in his head–

That he was strong enough to fight this menace;

Ergo he pushed it aside as an unnecessary nuisance,

Ignoring the warning signs flashing like sirens.

 

“I cannot fall”, claimed he in his

Battle against what had entered him.

Little did he know that it had accumulated–

Accumulated enough to take control of him.

 

The conquest had begun, the enemy decided to attack,

At first a stroll, later a dash;

Conquering its host till nothing remained,

Banishing Joy to the depths of his mind.

 

It was surely now the sole thing

That spoke in his mind–Promoting itself,

Letting him know he easily he crumbled,

Eating away at his deficient stock of Hope.

 

And then suddenly, you could see the change–

That confident personality now a shambles,

The social animal now as lonely as a fox,

That lively boy now a shadow of himself.

 

Then one day, it convinced his mind

How worthless existence had become;

For he was now broken on the inside,

No Hope remained inside his heart.

 

And thus ended the conquest–An astounding victory!

Optimism was vanquished,

Cheerfulness had disappeared,

Happiness was nowhere to be seen.

 

The boy was now in such a state,

That his essence had vanished completely;

More dead than alive, more a relic than a human,

His drive had been destroyed completely.

 

And so, with its job done and host despondent,

The plague called Depression moved on to a new victim.

 

//Author’s Note

This is my first attempt at writing free verse poetry. I desire to enhance my poetic skills in the near future. I hope this is a good first try.

~Abhiram