An entry to the 2025 Irish Epilepsy League writing competition was from medical student Alexios Karatkatsanis.
You can read Alexios's entry in full below...
The Sword of Damocles
There is fear in living itself,
but to live beneath Damocles’ sword,
always moments from the fall,
makes each day a nervous challenge.
There are days that stretch with silence,
no storm, no flash, no break—
but even peace feels perilous,
like walking on a frozen lake.
Each breath is a negotiation,
each hour a held note,
the quiet itself becomes the weight,
as you wait for the inevitable.
Once the knot in your stomach tightens,
and your surroundings appear unfamiliar,
once your vision falters,
and your chest begins to pound,
you realise again: your body is not your own.
There is the electrifying blur, then a cerebral jolt—
and your autonomy dissolves, your limbs moving uncontrollably.
If you cannot hold your own body,
your free will becomes tragic comedy.
With no control of yourself, you lose the thread of your soul,
and as your soul slips further,
you feel your humanity splinter—
piece by piece.
You wake to the same strange room,
the light burning your eyes,
distant sounds vibrating in your skull,
the familiar faces—etched with worry—
pulling you back to this world.
And in that quiet sadness, I remember:
to experience is to live.
That is proof enough for me—
that each unnerving return
is not the end but the reminder:
though I fall, I do not vanish—
my rising is my quiet strength.