The down time creeps up like old Bolton smog

 soaking into my flesh

and trickling black treacle

that thickens from within the mesh

 of chaos, thoughts, decisions

crossroads and dead ends.

 And before long the gloom of the down time

becomes regular time and time stands still.

When I’m up I smile and glow

Like the summer solstice

but when the down time sneaks up

I feel the cold and sadness

of every broken heart, every loss, every goodbye.

I reach for the pills and the down time dissolves.