Paranoia

10/09/2020 - Poem a Day Compilation



You wound me with your words,

They bite and scratch and claw,

The offend my sensibilities

And you do not offer to withdraw.



Though many may just let them slide,

You insult me with your remarks

That flow freely from your face

Without regard for the ire it sparks



I do not trust a word you say

And your actions betray your thoughts.

I have cracked the code you use,

I see through your ones and noughts.



You tell me you hold my secrets

But your eyes tell me you lie;

I hear my fears repeated back to me

And I wish for you to die.



Don’t you dare tell me I’m wrong

When I am nothing of the sort

Your criticism will not provoke me

When your arguments are fraught.



You say I’m overreacting

When I don’t take to your ugly declarations

But should my tears not flow freely

When you’ve turned against me whole nations.



You try to tear me down at each turn,

Spreading rumours like grist to the mill,

You want to destroy everything I have –

My art, my passion, my will.



You don’t want me to be happy,

Rather see me suffer your lies,

Treating me like a leper

Until there’s nothing around me but flies.



I always need to defend myself

When you hurl accusations at me

Or imply that something is all my fault

When it couldn’t possibly be.



You don’t listen to my explanations –

I repeat them ‘til I’m blue in the face –

But You tell me I’m wrong every time

When you know that’s not the case.



I don’t want to argue with you

But you won’t see things from my perspective.

You make me want to shake you

Until you aren’t as defective.



I yell, and I scream, and I shout,

And I punch holes in the lounge room wall

Because whatever I do isn’t good enough

And we must defer to your call.







But I don’t want to bend to your will,

I want to make decisions without compromise,

To take action based on my own choices

And for there to be no reprise.



I am the master of my own domain,

The king of my own castle.

You will not bring me undone

Or placate me with a shiny parcel



I cannot forgive the wrong you have done

And I will never forget them;

They haunt my every waking thought

And my dreams they do condemn.



They stain my opinion of you,

And scar every memory I hold

You damage me beyond all recognition

And leave me feeling cold.



I know you talk about me

When I am not in the room,

The whispers hidden behind hands

Are louder than a sonic boom.



I see all the deceit that you spread

When you think that I’m not around,

Fooling yourself that I don’t know

That your lies are not bound.







I’ve never liked the way you act,

Sneaking around like you’ve something to hide

And never giving me all the answers –

Even when I’ve caught you out, you’ve lied.



Your friends are not who they say they are –

They’re two faced and devious –

And I know you’ve told them my secrets

Going beyond mere mischievous.



I can’t trust anyone anymore,

All because of you.

I have no one to confide in

And you won’t get your due.



Once they hear your treacherous lies

They don’t believe a word I say.

But I will take my revenge

And you will rue the day.



I can’t be with anyone

In any romantic fashion.

They all leave me in the end

And I am bereft of passion.



They say I’m not the person

With whom they fell in love.

All I want is to find someone

Who fits me like a glove.



But that person isn’t real, you know,

Because you’ve turned them all away,

You take, you pinch, you steal from me,

But they’re just silly games you play.



It becomes harder to face the world outside

When danger lurks at every turn,

When people are against me

And want to see me burn.



I see their true intentions

But they hide their malevolence towards me.

They wear a mask of innocence

So the rest of the world won’t see.



My bosses will not promote me,

They keep me stuck in this dead-end job

It’s all designed to wear me down

So they can feed me to the ravenous mob.



They are afraid of my intellect,

That I will outshine them, every one.

Their small minds can’t see my vision

And they won’t stop ‘til I am done.



They listen in to my conversations,

They probably trace my calls.

Stealing my ideas and thoughts

My protest on deaf ears falls.



Each day they try to bring me down –

They conspire to see me fail.

Everyone is against me,

Their plot is beyond the pale.

They will not get the best of me.

They will not drag me down.

I see through their diversions.

I will wear the crown.