Hello, my name is Worry, and I never stop working,
Cranking, in the back of your mind.
Tearing up the gears as I use them until the last drop of oil has diminished
They call me Worry, and I have an extensive family tree
I have a husband named Doubt and three kids
Fear, Darkness, and Anxiety.
We’ve limped through tough times, rejected from every home...
Like vampires, or creatures of the night.
Once the sun comes out, we are expelled, kicked to the curb. So we move on with our cousins,
Cynicism and Vulnerability.
We are ambitious, searching day in and out for a new mind,
A mind of any age, to inhabit. Once we do so,
We stretch our wings, we become set in our ways.
Pulling back and forth at the tendrils of a nervous system
Making it a very nervous system
Giving our children more brothers and sisters in this very nervous system
We never tuck into our beds, but once this mind is under the blankets,
Safe and secure in your bed, we carry on with our labor, illustrating the horror you think you’ve escaped for the day-
It’s never over.
My family and I are inside you now, and there’s nothing you can-
I hear my children scream out, Darkness first;
He says, “Mother, the sun, it’s burning my eyes”
Then Fear packs up and hops out an ear.
Lastly I hear my baby girl, Anxiety, cry, as though her heart is breaking
If only she had a heart.
The rest of us evacuate while this mind meditates and we have no choice but to leave.
We are vanquished, forbidden from return, and we will get by, day by day.
Hello, Sun, my name is Worry, and though I may cause those ‘worst nightmares’,
You are truly mine.