I’d like to live in a place
where home breathes beyond our walls
A shared garden where seeds are planted by all
I’d like to live in a place with open space, and trees that grow
horizons that widen with potentials of people we come to know,
I’d like to live in a place safe and secure with my own space
to laugh and cry, to be low or high, to be me,
I’d like to live in a place where people give a rose
to someone they have never met before,
Somewhere people are friendly and stigma isn’t in the community
somewhere to live in harmony,
but there are borders where I am stopped and checked for ‘normality’
I want to find an antidote to this hostility
I would like to start a mission and end this attrition
you want my inclusion? Then I send this to you,
I am not ‘voiceless’–I am articulate–
but do you listen?
I’d like to live in a place where people are understanding
and happy to engage, without saying a thing
they show openness at every stage
they are kind and caring and listen to you
where you start sharing and they share too
I’d like to live in a place that’s free from a compulsory race
not grabbing a chance, or being forced to dance
to a tune that’s lacking in grace
Yes, I’d like to live in a place where I can move at a much slower pace
so please be still.
I want to live in a place where children grow up understanding
that they can talk about the things that worry them
where schools teach the problems of mental health
where they experience compassion
and learn to embrace the difference
where they learn not to be afraid of someone
who is sitting on a park bench crying
I want ‘mental health’ OUT OF THE CUBBOARD
Open the door!
Let it out!
Come with whatever you want,
a cry,
a shout,
with a song!
Let your madness believe in my madness.
By: Tom. Terry, Pam, Gene, Juliet, Robert, Julie, and Noushin
Rotherham Flourish group
