Two months ago, we lost my cousin to depression and this poem is meant to highlight the ensuing pain that taking your life causes to your loved ones. We can’t imagine how he felt all this time and how he must have struggled with depression. Suicide doesn’t destroy pain, it’s transferred to all your loved ones. It’s like shrapnel from an explosion that wounds everyone closest to you.
All we can do is feel it. Feel all of it, because nothing that we can do will bring our loved one back. This poem is written to highlight that pain, will it help in your grief? I don’t know… Maybe it will just help to articulate what you’re feeling.
No respecter of persons
On that day, our hearts went cold as we got the call.
Surely, I’m dreaming; this cannot be…
How could we lose a life so pure?
Depression is no respecter of persons.
It snatches both young and old.
It robs the world of God’s gift in you.
We lose the best of souls.
Through the guise of a smile,
you fought this fight alone.
You struggled with it for many years.
Only in retrospect is this known.
If only we could turn back time.
If only life were fair.
If only the grave was for those who lived their lives.
For those who saw their best years.
A thousand thoughts naw at me each day.
These regrets eat at my soul.
I wish I’d said…
I wish you knew…
I wish I had done more.
I wish this was just a dream.
But your absence; we must bear.
We take solace in that you’re with the Lord.
That, your pain; you left it here.
That you finally found peace with God
and we’ll see you again some day.