LETTER TO HER LOVER POST THE SHIPWRECK OF DEPRESSION

Busamoya Phodiso Modirwa

I have bled onto everything that has stayed past the midnight of my smile
       Yet you are still here on our almost rudderless ship
You say, ‘I will voyage with you’
And the troubled waters beneath us gurgle up foam

                                         The voices wail inside this ruin of a body
They dance around me like witches in the night ‘till you can
               only see a swirling as if of smoke
                            An inferno brewing somewhere, even you know
                                  You say, ‘I will stay still’
                            And the madness says, ‘This haunted house is ours alone’
                                         I have been depressed long enough to never mistake

      Amorous love for a rescue boat
I've come to terms with my plight so much that if you chose to leave
                         I would help you find the bits of yourself you
Pushed into the cracks to ghost-proof this sinking ship
No one deserves the 'saving the princess' journey before being loved back
                                        But you are still here so tell me my love
                                                                Is this a dream?