Poem #7

I can't take this pain anymore

To live on like this I just can't be sure

If I should creep, move a little closer to the edge

I could end it all with a toppling blow to the head

Let the headlines pronounce, "Mother of four dead"

"I can't believe it," and "I didn't know" they all said

You, them, and they never looked, never paused or cared

Never offered a kind word or held me when I was scared

Right here, right now, I could make the pain go away

But I see my children's faces and don't know what they'll say

Who will offer them a kind word and care for them when I go?

Second thoughts pulse through my body from head to toe

Heart pounding, panicking screams swarm through my head

And then I slowly, silently move back from the ledge

(For any mother who ever contemplated suicide)