Sabre tooth post-truth

Our Modern life is full of Sabre-tooth tigers
Warring of clans and poisonous spiders
Dirty dank water and cavernous pits
Furious fires and razor sharp cliffs

Or so our brain thinks, accustomed to caution
Hard wired to react, all out of proportion
A disease of our time, a shameful admission
Anxiety and stress that we try to keep hidden

Overactive amygdalas, sensing a fight
With nowhere to go accept back deep inside
Creating imbalance in our mental health
Which cannot be spoken of, as seen as weakness not strength

Instead we repress, avoid and project
Ignoring the crisis, we plan and deflect
We run away from our fears, drink down our despair
Carry on in our jobs, “nothing to see here”

Except for some, pressure becomes too great
The tiger is upon us, dark thoughts start to escape
Deep from the pit we have dared not to look
It has taken us now, that fire consumes every mood

We fall from the cliff at war with ourselves
Struggling to see what is real, as we only see hell
Checking, rechecking, paranoia and doubt
We walk around screaming without making a sound

Isolated, in secret we carry this weight
As Modern life tells us be happy, make money! before its too late
The messages say don’t give us your shit
Just buy what we sell, shut up and eat!

If only we could share the challenges we all face
In our mental health, our emotions and hidden shame
We could work with the tiger that is hunting us down
Find the toxin inside and change our programme

As the funny thing is we are all the same
We all have these fears and thoughts that cause us pain
There may not be tigers and wooden -staked pits
No spiders that bite, or vipers that spit

Just modern life and its crazy unwritten rules
Its celebrity status and impossible goals
Its stiff upper lip and its socks pulled up high
Its insane machinations and incredulous lies.

Maybe the tiger was easier, more simple no doubt
Than this life of shadow and smoke we have created now
But those feelings, they’re real, those screams are getting so close
And our numbers are growing
We are finding our voice!