For Mom, who left too soon
Who is my muse,
The one I write for?
I perform
And I send out my message
With strength
And with shaking hands
Frozen limbs
Questioning,
Screaming
Hear me.
Do you have ears?
Did you forget how to listen?
Are there times when you just want to close it all off
And stop feeling?
Where are you now
When I need you most
When you’re supposed to be my guiding light
And now you’re gone away
By your own hand
Life taken from you
But no.
It was not taken
You just gave it away
As if there was no one else who wanted it
As if I wasn’t in the other room
Preparing for what would soon be
But what never happened.
Hear me.
Stop running from the truth
Accept your fate
There’s nothing you can do
I can’t rhyme these words
Because there’s no reason to rhyme for you
You don’t deserve it
You never did
Maybe once before Spring set in
When I thought
We’d do so much
You were so well
I was so well
We were so swell
And then all at one with a gasp
And a
“I’m gonna be sick.”
You were gone.
HEAR ME.
You fell so easily.
For thirty six years you fought
With the strength of a thousand men.
Tortured by your own mind
Treatments of electricity
And downing pills
By the bottle.
Hospitals and patients,
Nurses and psychiatrists
Holding you down
And holding you in
Did they choose this?
Was it my fault?
In that moment where I last saw you breathing
Did I not choose my words well enough?
Are my words better now?
Could they have been better then?
Do you hear me?