poem: naomi head

Choices

My brain often went away
Wandering in fog for days,
Weeks, months or years
Words of love fell on deaf ears
While words of hate pierced the veil
setting me up to fail.

So many years passed me by
With no time to sit and cry
Just enough to catch my breath
Just enough to give what was left
Never keeping something for myself.

I know if I’d stayed,
I wouldn’t have made it
I’d have twisted and broken
into a million pieces.

Instead, I chose to be happy
To leave behind the mess
I chose to be happy
And admit I’m depressed
I chose to be happy
To prioritise the real
Real love, real laughter
And the realest of people.

Today I choose to be happy
Nourished on here and now
My smiles are finally real.

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about the writer: naomi head

Naomi Head is a writer based in Edinburgh, Scotland. She has written for Time Out Beijing, Refresh Magazine and more. Find her work at naomihead.com.