The power of poetry: A poem about suicide

“You cannot find peace by avoiding life.”

—Mary Oliver

“Human life begins on the far side of despair.”

—Jean-Paul Sartre

A poem or haiku gets to the essence of life with as much profundity as does a beautiful mathematics or physics equation.  Perhaps more so because the poem is from the heart, that place which makes us a human being replete with our strengths and frailties, faults and virtues.  I’m reminded of a line in the book Contact, which was more powerfully conveyed in the movie of the same name.  An astrophysicist (played by Jodie Foster) is chosen for a mission to an alien world.  It was joked beforehand during the selection process that maybe a poet should be sent instead.  When the astrophysicist arrives at a stunning view of an alien galaxy, what she sees is so beautiful that she says aloud to herself: “They should have sent a poet.”     

For some people life on Earth may feel like an alien world.  One in which they don’t fit in or feel they cannot endure.  I came across an amazing video on YouTube: It’s the reading of a poem, “The Morning After I Killed Myself” (by Meggie Royer). The poem and background music make for a heartbreaking combination about a most painful subject: suicide.  It captures the devastation left in suicide’s wake and the loss of the countless simple things in life which are only truly appreciated once these are gone forever. The video notes contain a link to a list of suicide prevention hotlines and emergency numbers throughout the world.  I hope anyone contemplating suicide takes advantage of the appropriate number for where he or she lives.

People who’ve reached the point in their life of considering suicide believe they have no options.  What they fail to realize is they are at that moment possessed of the greatest of all options.  The option to live another day.  Another day to experience life in all its splendor, both simple and grand; its pain and challenges, both terrible and mundane; the myriad things that make life what it is: the most precious thing in the universe.  It’s a wonderful miracle that we are here to contemplate it, that you are here to contemplate it with us in your own way.

For those who find themselves despairing of life, I’m sorry you’re hurting.  Please don’t give up. For your sake. For all of our sakes.