The Mandrake - Original Song about Mental Health

Hey.

May is National Mental Health Awareness Month.

As someone who's had a pretty rough go with this for as long as I can remember, I think it's important that people talk about it with one another, just like you would with any other physical illness.

Think I've finally stumbled onto a song which best describes what it's like for me.  I'd love for you to view it, to share it with others who intuit this illness in their lives.

lyrics

when youre born
youre given land
yours to till
inside your heart
do what you will
birds of paradise
or a hedgerow maze
or something stoic if youll pardon
like a rake and a taciturn zen garden
but the earth is
vulnerable
through sun and shade
try as you might youre
helpless
by the crop laid

chorus
you never knew
you never thought
youd find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
beyond reproach
beyond compare
the mandrake
of old
despair
you never knew
you never thought
youd find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
beyond reproach
beyond compare
the mandrake
of old
despair

second verse
oh
ive tried
its an unyielding root
such a tenacious brute
and people come
they stop and stare
their temper
unconcealed
they chide me
tidy up your goddamn field
other lots
oh my
theyre so serene
or is my camera lens
just lined with
vasoline

chorus
you never knew
you never thought
youd find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
beyond reproach
beyond compare
the mandrake
of old
despair
you never knew
you never thought
youd find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
beyond reproach
beyond compare
the mandrake
of old
despair

bridge
sometimes chemicals
they kill the leaves
those horrid thieves of joys
yet deep within
the husk remains
it stains
the poisons it deploys
how noxious smelling
is the air
wish i had some strength
inside
and the tools to turn this
tide
even knowing ill have
died
when i hear that mandrakes
upturned roots start
screaming

third verse
still
youre
here
and im here
lets have a lunch
outside
lie down together
hide
on clover beds
so soft and green
sing me a
whaling song
and tell me just how your own
gardens wrong
and well laugh
tumble into our skin
our pupils shutter
wide
well finally blend
in

chorus
we never knew
we never thought
wed find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
can we reproach
can we repair
the mandrake
of old
despair
we never knew
we never thought
wed find
another weed
a little seed
this kind
can we reproach
can we repair
the mandrake
of old
despair

outro
its just the life
im working with
the life im working with
the life im working
with
its just the life
im working with
the life im working with
the life im working
with
tale could have ended
half a dozen different ways
how the hell
did i live this long
join me and sing along
never had much respite
from a decades old malaise
how the hell did i live this long
join me and sing along
sickness grows in silence
i broke it wide open
shivering violence
how did i live this long
join me and sing along
and if your gardens reckless
youre hungry for mercy
fear that youre feckless
reach out
youre a hand
im a glove
i love
that youve lived this long
find help
join me and sing along
ohhhhhhhh
its just the life
im working with
the life im working with
the life im working
with

(additional scatting and cheerful nonsense)