Mantra – Written Tuesday 10th June 2025 (Aged 50)

Mantra

Getting better.
That was a phrase that we used when we were young.
It was a mantra
when days themselves felt so young.

And here we are now,
redefining what it means to have fun,
making days with ingredients
that were sometimes force-fed.

Getting better was a mantra
when days found themselves
in comfy beats
and people wrapped themselves in our sheets

But now I must learn the true meaning
of certain words —
words such as happiness or bad.
You must remember all that you have,
and you must remember
that sometimes the clouds
dip you in lakes of feeling sad.

Getting better was always about
somehow getting here,
wherever here actually was.
even when it was a border town on the edge of fear

But what fun is there to be had
when your head has been sunk
in jars of depression?
when your personality lies idle with doubtful confessions

Here we are,
finding our daily living,
getting better,
getting to a place
where we are feeling more content.

But does getting better remain a mantra?
Because, after all,
the days are not so young.
but i sit you and draw out our own version of fun

James Garratt – Tuesday 10th June 2025

More poems at:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/

More about this blog, The Boy Behind the Glasses, here:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/2020/01/08/the-boy-behind-the-glasses-an-introduction/

More poems from 2025:
https://theboybehindtheglasses.com/category/poems-and-writing-2025/