ALONG THE BARREN ROAD

Tag: mental illness

  • Internal Fire – A Poem

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    by

    Justin Farley

    Smoke fills the lungs. Warning signals run in desperation to alert the mind in a race that’s become all too familiar. Flames engulf my entrails like dry twigs thrown on a campfire on an August night. In frantic panic, eyes search for aid, but people pass by as if nothing were amiss. Surely someone must…

  • Deep Poem About Depression Feeling Emptiness

    Deep Poem About Depression Feeling Emptiness

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    by

    Justin Farley

    A poem poem depression, examining what it means to be depressed and feel nothing—no sadness, no desire, no happiness—and to feel all the warmth of life disappear.

  • Rhyming Mental Health Poem About Bipolar Disorder Manic Depression

    Rhyming Mental Health Poem About Bipolar Disorder Manic Depression

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    by

    Justin Farley

    A poem about mental health that rhymes comparing bipolar disorder to a lifelong roller coaster ride that you are unable to get off of, written by poet Justin Farley.

  • Living With Fear – A Poem About Anxiety Disorder and Mental Illness

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    by

    Justin Farley

    Living With Fear – A Poem About Anxiety and Mental Illness Close your eyes.Keep yourself blindTo the hideous beastThat hides beneath this veil of security. Pretend you can’t see meFor who I am –A scared, frightened, shell of a manRaging in the solitude of fear’s prison. I can’t even stand the visionThat stares back at…

  • The Woman in the Mirror

    The Woman in the Mirror

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    by

    Justin Farley

    The Woman in the Mirror You are a seductive temptressthat tempts with the ticks of time.In control of the clocks hands,only needing to rewind to the moments we left behind. You still lurk in the shadows –a creature stalking in the dead of night.But potential follows wherever your heart goes,needing only to let go of…

  • The Clouds of Mourning – A Poem About Depression and Pain

    The Clouds of Mourning – A Poem About Depression and Pain

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    by

    Justin Farley

    As we go through life, there are inevitable seasons where it seems the skies are always cloudy, always raining, and the forecast will never change. Anyone that has ever dealt with depression (or any mental illness for that matter) knows that it is like a ghost that haunts you no matter where you go or…

  • The Fight – A Poem About Conquering Fear

    The Fight – A Poem About Conquering Fear

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    by

    Justin Farley

    A Poem about conquering fear and not letting fear choose your destiny or get in the way of your dreams.

  • One Is Never Enough, Ten Will Never Do – A Poem About Addiction

    One Is Never Enough, Ten Will Never Do – A Poem About Addiction

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    by

    Justin Farley

    Having suffered through the bonds of addiction, I sought in this poem to somehow put into perspective what the transformation of an addict is like. It never starts off as tragedy, but as a solution to all life’s problems – the missing puzzle piece that we’ve been searching for all of our life to make…

  • The Tinman – A Poem

    The Tinman – A Poem

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    by

    Justin Farley

    The Tinman – A Poem Your beacon blazes with the firestormOf a thousand pyres.In your eyes I find the fires –Smoke signals that rise to the heavensAnd lead me on a journeyOut of the confinement of earthly shacklesThat have clanged like lonely church bellsRinging in the early morning,Beckoning for deliverance around my feet for countless…

  • An Ode To Joy – A Poem About Hope

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    by

    Justin Farley

    An Ode To Joy – A Poem About Hope It is joy that spreads its wings and meets me in the midst of my melancholic musings and carries me through despair. Pain does not disappear, but is transcended by a power mightier than the trappings of the mind and the preaching Pity pouts from depression’s…

  • The Light That Shines in the Darkness – A Poem About Hope

    The Light That Shines in the Darkness – A Poem About Hope

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    by

    Justin Farley

    A Christian poem about hope and finding light during dark times that rhymes, titled “The Light That Shines In The Darkness” by Justin Farley.

  • Becoming Happier By Changing Our Perspective

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    by

    Justin Farley

    Most of the time, it isn’t our circumstances that define us, but our perspective on those circumstances. Every day we each go through numerous experiences that are opportunities to embrace the positive or dwell on the negative. The way we react to these experiences determines how happy or sad we will be through life. Now there are mental…

  • The Problem With Pain – A Poem

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    by

    Justin Farley

    The problem with pain is its ability to cast a spell over us, convincing us it’ll last forever. The weakest mind can handle temporary havoc, but when faced with a future filled with nothing but misery, we all become broken – lost, scared, and uncertain about how we’re going to make it through another day.…

  • SAD – A Poem About Winter and Seasonal Affective Disorder

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    by

    Justin Farley

    SAD – A Poem About Winter and Seasonal Affective Disorder The wind whips against the shutters.Brutal blasts of cold swirl in the breeze.Hope seems tattered and scattered,lying buried beyond the brink of spring. As I gaze out from within my frozen fortress,I square off, locked in a duel with death.Fighting against the feelings of emptinesslodged deep…

  • Deimos and Phobos

    Deimos and Phobos

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    by

    Justin Farley

    I lie awake in the night, scratching and clawing at my skin. Hoping if I peel the layers right, I can shed the hell within. Hoping to quiet the hellish howling – the fear that threatens my every breath. Hoping to stop the false visions warning of an ever-approaching death. Heart beating in my ears…

  • I Am Not A Victim – The Courage to Change

    I Am Not A Victim – The Courage to Change

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    by

    Justin Farley

    The hardest thing about fighting back against any mental illness, addiction, mental limitations, or physical limitations is that there is not a direct enemy that you can see, that you rebel and fight against. I read “Unbroken” by Lauren Hillenbrand a few weeks ago and was inspired by the story. But it wasn’t the time Louis…

  • Dealing With Winter – Learning From Nature

    Dealing With Winter – Learning From Nature

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    by

    Justin Farley

    The temperatures are already putting me in a bad mood, and even though we’ve only had one snowfall, I’d say I’ve had about enough for the year. It is way too early to be already having blistering temperatures in the middle of November in Indiana. I do have a tendency to suffer from SAD (Seasonal…


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My Poetry Collections

the book cover of Nature's Bounty by Justin Farley— a poetry collection about the beauty of nature with subjects on birds, plants, trees, animals, the forest, and God.
A deep poetry book about the beauty of nature and the natural world by poet Justin Farley.
the book cover of Frozen Rivers by Justin Farley— a poetry collection about depression and the hardships of mental illness, balanced with nature poems on the season of winter.
Deep poems about depression and the hardships of mental illness, balanced with nature poems on the winter season by poet Justin Farley. Book 1 of the Seasons series.
a mental health poetry book about joy and nature poems on the season of spring
Inspirational poems about mental health, healing, and spring by poet Justin Farley. Book 2 of the Seasons series.
the book cover of Summer Days Sunburnt Nights by Justin Farley— a mental health poetry book about bipolar disorder and nature poems on the season of spring
Deep poems about bipolar disorder and being neurodivergent, balanced with nature poems on summer by poet Justin Farley. Book 3 of the Seasons series.
the book cover of A Voice in the Wilderness—A Chapbook of Poems About God by Justin Farley. It is a deep Christian poetry collection about contemplation, the spiritual journey, and finding grace through Jesus.
A contemplative, prayerful Christian poetry book about the spiritual journey and discovering God’s grace, mercy, and love.
the book cover of Thorns of Love by Justin Farley. It is a deep love poetry collection about sadness of breakups, divorce, and heartbreak.
A deep love poetry book about the pain of break ups and the heartbreak felt when relationships end by poet Justin Farley.