Mental Wilderness

Lost in the woods as the sky was darkening.
I could feel my heartbeat rapidly quickening
And all around me in the darkest places
I could see various strange and frightening faces.
When I looked directly at them they disappeared

Unidentifiable.  Problems:  What were they?

I quickened my pace since I could not get away
The woods went on each and every way
And now I could hear whistling far away.
From where they were coming I could not say
First from behind me, then up ahead.

Then from all around.  Where am I going?

Now came the pattering which I thought was falling leaves
At first
But the sound grew louder:  I knew it was running feet.
I started to run too- as fast as I could
It was dark and I wanted to escape from the wood.
I did not know in which direction to go.
I was in a kind of nightmare from which I could not escape.

I am in a kind of nightmare from which I can’t escape.
My days plod on, some are good some are bad
But my mind is telling me something is wrong.
I should be by a fireside, feeling secure and warm.
Not stuck out in a mental wilderness:

In a place I don’t belong.

NB:  This poem was inspired- and influenced- by the chapter The Wild Wood in the novel The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame.