There's a monster within me.

it's not attempting to break free.

Instead, it's drilling, filling, killing

everything that I am.

Usually, the medication helps.

Most times, it has to shout,

to escape and find its way out.

I feel it scratching, catching, latching

onto my fragile psyche.

Usually, I can ignore it.

But today is not a day

that I can declare my own way,

and it's laughing, smashing, tearing

its way to the surface.

Usually, I'm not so desperate.

So we meet and we fight,

to its ineffable delight;

unceasing stomping, stamping, dancing

inside my head.

Usually...

Usually I rise up!

Quietly, we spar and tussle,

great swaths of grass

pulled up by its roots.

But we careen to the edge,

only to misstep...

and plunge deeper...

to shatter on..

the bottom.

~~~

Note: I suffer from depressive episodes. Today, I am struggling, so when I saw the poetry prompt of "Monster", this is what came out. Don't be too alarmed; tomorrow will be a better day, I'm sure. It almost always is. But, this is valid for what I feel right now.