Trust vs Mistrust

Trust is such a slippery slope,
I often feel like I’m the dope,
For letting people in my sphere,
Who prey upon my greatest fear.

Mistrust is such an easy ride,
Why open up when you can hide,
The shields go up and I am safe,
No longer victim to the wraith.

Trust begets the thoughts of dread,
That swirl around inside my head,
I fright, I flight, I freeze once more,
Till danger wanes into the thaw.

Mistrust allows me time to think,
A place where I can pause and blink,
No pressure to absolve my pain,
I wander freely in the rain.

Trust is an uncertain test,
A broken heart at my behest,
A wound forever open wide,
Pulled under by a raging tide.

Mistrust concedes this lonely soul,
Finds comfort in a gaping hole,
Where no one follows close behind,
I am not lost for you to find.

Trust forever let’s me down,
But mistrust wears a thorny crown,
When dissidence belays my choice,
I’m drawn to scribe my inner voice.

© The Complicated Bunny – 19 Jan 2022

This poem is the first in a series of poems based around Erik Erikson’s Stages of Psychosocial Development which is something my psychologist and I are currently exploring.