A gossiper diseased by psychiatry

I was sitting on the train

Listening to a gossiper,

 ‘You know our friend Ryan?

He has lost his job,’

She says loudly into her

Mobile phone,

‘Yes, he’s always losing

His job or something.

He no longer has

A partner either.

Apparently he’s in a bad way,

Taking anti-depressants

Due to his life being unbalanced,

It’s caused a chemical imbalance

In his brain, apparently,

Yes, apparently that’s what’s

Happened and the medication

Is supposed to fix all that,

But it’s taking a while,

Or maybe he needs to try

Another brand that will work

Better with his problems,

Because all he does now

Is sit in a chair,

Watch TV and eats junk.

He used to go for jogs

And never wanted to eat

Unhealthy food and...

No wonder his girlfriend

Didn’t want him anymore!

Anyway I hope the drugs

Kick in and start working

Soon, because he’s saying

Things like he might kill

Himself and that taking

Too many SSRIs

Could kill him and stuff…

I guess we’ve just

Got to realise that

He has a disease

And that sometimes

People get better

And other times they don’t.

But it can take time.

Well, it’s none of my business

And he’s in the doctor’s

Capable hands so hopefully

The medicine will eventually work

And he’ll be happy again,
With a solid job and a nice

New lovely girlfriend,

Who won’t mind that

He cacks his pants occasionally

Because of the drug’s side-effects.

Yes, I know…

And, won’t mind him

Being a little bit impotent…

Because of the drug’s side-effects…

The doctor told me so.

Ryan needs someone who

Won’t mind and just love him anyway

And recognise that he has to take

The drugs to stop the disease

From depressing him so much

He takes an overdose of his medication…

It is the disease, the doctor said so,

Depression is a horrible disease,

There’s no cure, only management

Of the symptoms... ’

I was sitting on the train

Listening to all of this

And I thought, is she, is that woman

On her mobile, really a friend

Of the man called Ryan?

Or did he click on some Facebook stranger

Who gets all his updates

Then asks the web-doctor

What’s up with stuff?

I slip on an MP3 of PJ Harvey,

‘Heard it before, no more!’

It’s an old song, but it’s classic.