The Ship Of Many Dreams

So if you didn't know, I am a poet. A published poet.  I've been writing poetry since I was 12 years old.  Unfortunately, in the past couple of years I stopped writing from lack of inspiration.  With that said, I wanted to share with you a poem I wrote in 1998 that is very dear to me. One of my favorites.

Picture via www.titanicuniverse.com

(copyrights 1998-2012 Melissa Velia/ Melissa Holden)

The Ship

Oh look there she goes,
Out to sea filled with many souls.
Everyone cheered and wished her the best,
For she was beautiful, nothing like the rest.
As she slowly sailed out to sea,
Who would have known misfortune was soon to be.
Everyone was amazed at her beauty within,
For she was built with the hands of many men.
Everything was perfect, so it seemed.
She was truly the ship of many dreams.
And so she sailed through the cold ocean air,
Till one night she came across something far to great to bare.
A hill of ice, had ended her journey right then and there.
A moment of fright that everyone shared.
Then as the minutes dragged on,
Her designer realized she wouldn't stay afloat long.
The poor graceful ship was stinking to her grave,
Her captain going with her, so strong, so brave.
By now the panic and cries had set in,
For some would never see another day again.
Yet through all the madness, on one of her decks, sweet music could be heard.
Music of hope and soaring birds.
Then just before she was completely under,
Came a loud crash, a sound of thunder.
She, the ship had lost her rear,
Then more and more people grew with fright and fear.
At last after the great mass horror and disbelief.
At 2:20, the ship had gone completely underneath.
Farewell, farewell.

So I know this had nothing to do with fashion but this moment in history was so heartbreaking to me, that I was moved to write about it.  Hope you enjoyed it and share it with others as we remember the lives lost on the Titanic.

Surviving Myself

As I sit here on the eve of my 30th birthday, I can't help to think about my journey here.  Today I would like to share with you two big things...one being very private and the other I hope, inspirational.  But first, here's is a poem I wrote when I was 14 years old.

This is something I have always wanted to keep private and personal but today I come before you readers with an open heart, to tell you I suffer from depression. As the clock ticks to my 30th birthday, I can't help to reflect upon the wonderful things in my life and yet still ponder the bad, including my many attempts at suicide.  I couldn't help to wonder why God let me live through them all.....until recently, I had a an idea why.......to help save others.

In 2007, it was the tenth leading cause of death in the U.S., accounting for 34,598 deaths.¹ The overall rate was 11.3 suicide deaths per 100,000 people.¹ An estimated 11 attempted suicides occur per every suicide death. 
In 2007, suicide was the third leading cause of death for young people ages 15 to 24.¹ Of every 100,000 young people in each age group, the following number died by suicide:¹

• Children ages 10 to 14 — 0.9 per 100,000
• Adolescents ages 15 to 19 — 6.9 per 100,000
• Young adults ages 20 to 24 — 12.7 per 100,000

via National Institute of Mental

Depression is not a weakness, nor is it something you can just exercise off (as I was once told by a friend).  It is an illness that can kill you.  Picture this:

"Your thrown into the sea of life without a life vest, you know how to swim, so your good. Then the storms of trails start crashing down on you....wave after wave. Suddenly, you feel like you just can't swim anymore.  It's much to hard and your desperately tired.....so you give up and drown."

Most people are born with this life vest on but we who suffer from this deadly illness, were not.  That is why I want to help teens and young adults who suffer from depression to stay afloat. It may not be a life vest, it could simply just be inflatable floaties....never the less, it gives them all a fighting chance.

So I pray, that you'll join me in building MyLifeVest.org.  An organizing that I hope will get support groups in schools, a site where these teens and their parents can come to share their stories of survival, receive support, hope and information.  I'm sure there are many other groups out there like this but this is something very close to my heart and I want to be a part of this cause.

Thank you for taking the time to read my very long and personal post. I hope it has inspired you in some way to help others.  Please share this with others and help me save lives, one life vest at a time.

Join me on http://mylifevest.blogspot.com/ 

Till the next post, darlins!