The invisible

Walk right past,
don't speak to me.
pretend I am invisible,
someone you cannot see.

I’ve not always been this way,
in a very distant past,
I walked among society -
life was fun and fast.

I may not look the norm,
I have a bottle in my hand
and I talk to folk you cannot see
and live rough on the land.

I have not lost a leg,
or bare a visible scar,
my wounds are deep inside my mind,
my sanity’s at war.

I have no diagnosis,
no one knows what’s wrong.
Why? Because I’m invisible
and my mind has gone.

I missed out on education,
no one bothered to send me to school
and as I have no learning -
I am treated like a fool.

Even if I hadn’t slipped through the net
and a someone had asked what’s wrong.
I don’t know how to put into words,
what I’ve suffered with for so long.

The voices are my only friends
and days are long and hard,
time has no meaning,
neither does light or dark.

So use your compassion
and take a little while,
it only takes a minute
to say good morning and smile.

Treat me like a human being,
just give it a try.
Think to yourself I’m lucky -
there but for Gods good grace go I.

But for now I’ll remain invisible,
someone you pretend not to see
and society will remain ashamed
and keep on ignoring me.

How can we have advanced so far
and not really moved at all.
Where is the safety net,
to save us when we fall?

One day my pain will be over,
one day I will be gone,
no one will even cry or mourn me,
when I have moved on.

Because I am invisible
and folk choose not to see,
because they do not want to know,
but there are lots of me!