Poem for Mental Health Awareness Week: "Back' by Jane Kenyon

We try a new drug, a new combination
of drugs, and suddenly

I fall into my life again

like a vole picked up by a storm
then dropped three valleys
and two mountains away from home.

I can find my way back. I know
I will recognize the store
where I used to buy milk and gas.

I remember the house and barn,
the rake, the blue cups and plates,
the Russian novels I loved so much,

and the black silk nightgown
that he once thrust
into the toe of my Christmas stocking.

by Jane Kenyon

For more information about poet, Jane Kenyon, see:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/jane-kenyon