The Body Keeps The Score - Kate Gallienne

As I stand in my garden, surrounded by trees
I question what’s real and what’s not
My senses inhale the nature around
My memory brings back the forgot

See my body remembers what my mind's erased
Taking me back in time
As if I was reliving the past that was
I begin to question my mind

I am safe here, it is not true
The feelings I feel deep inside
I look to the outside instead of within
I begin to question my mind

Confusion reigns as I’m torn between
Myself and all that I know
How can I trust my feelings
When to do so, I’d let myself go

So I hold on tight to this day and time
I breathe into myself again
I steady my body which soothes my mind
Bringing me back today…and then…

Calmly and slowly I begin to heal
Understanding the disconnect
For my body remembers what happened
Whilst my mind it's tried hard to forget.

Kate Gallienne

The Mask - Kate Gallienne

Have we met? For I think I know you. A familiar face that I recall
I know that smile and those big brown eyes. I’m sure you help me when down I fall
Why then do you appear distant? With a smile painted thick like a clown
Your eyes are open but do not see me, always flitting or looking down

I cannot ask you how you feel, as I fear I don’t have the time
If you started to express what’s real, what’s buried deep in your mind
Your protective mask keeps you safe inside, never showing the naked truth
Afraid to look behind those eyes, preferring to believe than seek for proof

Looking deeper though and closer still, the reflection doesn’t lie
For it is not you, it is actually me, through the mirror I watch myself cry
To the outside world I am someone else, somebody I’m really not
Portraying to others that all is fine, when inside fear is all that I’ve got

If I wear a smile others smile back, confirming all is well
If I look down or ill at ease, my true feelings they would tell
I cannot bear their sympathy, or their saddened sorrowful eyes
For they reflect the truth to me, that something is wrong deep inside

If this happens my tears won't stop. I’d be crying the whole year through
For there’s no release and no let up, never knowing what to do
So I apply the makeup day upon day, hiding the lines on my face
Hoping no one can see the real me, for like me, they’d see a disgrace.

Kate Gallienne

Absent Love - Kate Gallienne

I was born from you
But you’d never know
For you love for me
Did never show

The last on your list of priorities
I often prayed upon my knees
That one day you’d suddenly see
Your daughter, your child, little me

Wrapped in a world of deceit and lies
You turned your back as I cried inside
Your mind distracted and away from home
Forgetting me, leaving me all alone

My life is a winter, so bleak and dark
With scars etched deep across my heart
Thoughts of you, surely bring me down
I cannot smile with this heavy frown

Time will heal or so they say
But I live this pain day after day
Like a jigsaw piece I’m all amiss
And I cannot recall one single kiss

So don’t be alarmed when I scream in your face
For the rage within me is hard to displace
You say you love me but it cannot be so
For your love for me never did show.

Kate Gallienne