Oh child of isolation,

Why do you hide?

Why in the womb of a tomb do you reside?

I know the world has its ways in bringing you down,

Abating your breath when no good can be found.

Is there no hope left within your very soul?

This here is the test you must console,

Turn and change from what you were before.

You cannot live in this past anymore,

The sobering sweetness you once had.

Cannot for what was be glad?

Only when you change will there be more chances down the road,

But first you must give up and bury your burdensome load.

Or otherwise what you seek will always slip your grasp,

So child of isolation what will you do?

Will you stay this way forever?

Or change and be anew?

Child of Isolation by Seth Milliman

I’ve been in that same dark place. I didn’t know what anyone could say or do to get me to see life in the same way again. I’m recognizing myself in my close friend, who has isolated himself from his friends and without an explanation. After months of prying I am left exhausted and unsure of what to do. I remember him telling me one day that he likes when we make fun of him for being “poo poo” as we call it when anyone is in a bad mood, so I often use humor to try and get him to smile. I wish I could break down his walls but maybe he needs to escape his mind on his own. Today, I wrote a simple, cheesy poem that encompasses my feelings as of now.

When eleven crumbled to four we survived because we found our core. But somewhere down the road, four became three and now you won’t even speak. Not a mutter of what went wrong or what’s been troubling you all along. You say we are still friends so which is it then? Do I pry? Or keep pretending everything is fine? If this is a game, what are the rules? I need some clue to what is bothering you. But if you can’t let us help you then theres nothing else I can do but turn a blind eye to the empty bottles filling your room. I know you’re hurting but believe me, six shoulders can carry the weight of any burden.