Black Hole Of The Soul

Black hole of the soul

Waves of despair

No one to help

Nobody there

Malevolent thoughts

A very bad scare

Sick and miserable

Nobody there

Down down down

Does anyone care

Free falling in space

Nobody there

A chink of light

The words of a prayer

All is not lost

God is there

Rose-Mary Gower

Black Hole Of The Soul

I have a number of cyber-pals who suffer from clinical depression so badly that it blights their lives. Winston Churchill was one of the most famous people to have this condition, which he described as his ‘black dog’.

An uncle of mine was training as an Anglican Priest in the 40s when he was struck down with this debilitating malady. He was unable to follow his calling, which made him even more depressed! Although he married, had children and managed to hold down a clerical post, he had bouts of illness throughout his life, which was very hard on his family. When I was young mental illness was a very touchy subject indeed. Families did not like to admit that one of their own was afflicted. I can remember the adults having whispered conversations when my uncle was having a bad episode. It was years before he got proper psychiatric help as the family feared the stigma if my uncle was labelled as mentally ill.

In the 21st century we seem to have a much more enlightened attitude to clinical depression and mental illness in general. I am not sure whether more people suffer from it, or we hear about it more because they are not shut away in the closet and can be more open about their illness?

I fervently hope that in time drug or other therapies can be found to fill in the black hole of the soul, and cure the disorder!