A Caged Songbird

Image credit: Ashling Larkin

I sat, a silent songbird
Languishing in a silver cage
Bound by finely woven wires
Wound from anxiety and depression
Trapping me and stealing my voice
Distorting my view of the world around me

I longed to extend my wings and fly
To effortlessly glide through the clear sky
Transported upon currents of warm air
Swooping and soaring without a care
Basking in the sun’s bright glow
Leaving my problems far below

Outside, I would hear the dawn chorus and long to join in
Once upon a time I had a song to sing
A voice that demanded to be heard
For that’s what I am, a songbird
But that was all taken away
And I no longer celebrated the dawn of each new day

Alone I had much time to reflect and take stock
To wish for a friendly feathered flock
A kind soul to take me under their wing
To help me find my voice and relearn to sing
To aid me in my quest to locate the key
That would unlock the cage and set me free

Now I have found
A group who’ll help me reclaim my sound
We huddle together
And preen our feathers
Tentatively my wings flap and flutter
I open my mouth and utter
A faint sound, then I raise my voice to the sky
Calling to the heavens, hearing a hundred voices reply

At last I have found my song!
Turns out it was inside me all along
Just squashed and repressed
When I was anxious and depressed
But with a little tender loving care
It could be coaxed out of there
With help, I could find the courage to spread my wings
To open my heart and sing.

Susan enjoys creative writing and runs a writing group in Edinburgh for women with lived experience of mental health issues. The group have exhibited their writing in the Scottish Mental Health Arts Festival (SMHAF). Susan has co-written and co-starred in a number of plays in Leith Festival, and had stories shortlisted in competitions run by the Health and Social Care Academy and SMHAF. She wants to help reduce the stigma around mental health.

Ashling is a Scotland-based comic artist, illustrator & animator. She graduated in 2016 from DJCAD with a 2:1 Bdes(Hons) in animation and has since been doing freelance work at the Dundee Comics Creative Space at Inkpot studio, while also working on her current ongoing project, a fantasy-adventure webcomic called “The Enchanted Book”.