This is said like the story Twas The Night Before Christmas
This is a true but sad story of one Christmas my children had to face.
It’s two weeks till Christmas and all through the house
Not a thing is prepared and it’s quiet as a mouse
The children are sad cause their mom’s not there
She’s ill in the hospital–it’s surely unfair
But it’s happened before, and the kids have no hope
That this will be different–they’ll just have to cope
It’s been two long weeks since this relapse began
When she went without sleep for a house spic and span
Her speech was so rapid, they scare understood
Her excitement and restlessness was more than it should
Her irritable mood, her anger and fear
Were way beyond normal, there much was quite clear
Her family decided (it wasn’t too soon)
To hospitalize her that same afternoon
When they went down to visit the following week
She no longer smiled…and would hardly speak
Her mood was so low she just wanted to sleep
To be left alone to think and to weep
She stayed in bed refusing all food
Nothing they tried made a change in her mood
The depression grew worse and the pain grew inside
Till the only solution seemed to be suicide
Then gradually the medicines given her, worked
She emerged from the dark to the world she had shirked
The professionals call it manic depression
Or Bipolar Disorder…but that’s just and expression
The people who have it really know best
How this illness can be an impossible test
To get back to the family I’m talking about
It seems they will have to manage without
The gifts, and the turkey, the music and tree
Given up happily all will agree
In exchange for a wife and mother most dear
Who’ll be home from the hospital just in time for the New Year