Ok, I'm giving this a try here

[NMMNG]

:scared:

This is something I wrote years ago when I was dabbling in poetry. Be warned, it has sensitive material in it.


















At The Cliff's Edge


She stands at the edge of a seaside cliff
The tide coming in down below
The surf appears to be miles beneath
Yet it seems to roar in her ears

Cold parents who ignore her
Friends who abandoned her
Cruel, tormenting classmates
Are the haunts of the years gone by

Thousands of unreleased screams
Millions of uncried tears
Locked in the void where her heart used to be

A lone tear escapes as she takes a deep breath

Closes her eyes

And leans forward

[frogmarch]

1. Poignant

Your poem really struck a chord when I read it, because two young adults in my extended family took their own lives. One was a lesbian who'd been shown "the wickedness of her ways" by the fundamentalist church she'd been drawn into, and she was set to marry a young man the very next day. No one understands why her brother took his own life several years later. Neither drugs nor alcohol were involved in the suicides.

I wonder how many people at any given moment are at the cliff's edge.

Well done, Buffy.

[NMMNG]

3. Thank you frogmarch

I can empathize with the lesbian you mentioned as I am a lesbian, and have felt the sting of fundamentalist hatred. It is truly heartbreaking how many people's lives are damaged or destroyed by the inability of individuals or groups to accept them for who and what they are.

Suicide is an act often undertaken by desperate, hurting people who feel they have no other choice. As with the brother you spoke of, survivors are often left wondering why. It is often a question that haunts them for the rest of their lives.

[catbert836]

2. Very deep.

You might want to post this in the Poetry Group (not sure if there's anyone left there, though). My uncle commited suicide just a few years ago, so your poem strikes a deep chord with me.

[NMMNG]

4. I'm sorry to hear about your uncle

That had to have been difficult for you. :hug: Were you close to him?

[catbert836]

5. No, not so much

But it was terrible to see what his death did to his wife and children and parents, all because he probably just had one too many and had his gun near him.

[NMMNG]

6. Maybe, maybe not

He may very well have had an underlying mental illness that prompted his desire to kill himself. Roughly 90% of individuals who commit suicide have a mental illness such as a mood disorder.

http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medlineplus/ency/article/001554.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copycat_suicide

http://www.afsp.org/education/recommendations/5/1.htm

[catbert836]

7. Yes, that's probably true.

He was an alcoholic, and such diseases are extremely prevalent in both sides of my family. Alcoholism, Drug addiction, depression, suicide, the list goes on. What great genes my parents gave me :scared:

[NMMNG]

8. I know where you're coming from

The entire maternal side of my family suffers from mental illness, myself included.

[Tom Yossarian Joad]

9. Well said & Jerked a tear.

... ...IMHO, ... is there too much third person for such a first person feeling?

(Just my opinion, and you weren't asking for it... Sorry?)