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hoot_owl_rn
Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750
Glen Hope, PA USA

0 posted 2000-03-15 11:58 AM


(I am reposting this due to the fact that yet another employee in the hospital I work at commited suicide two nights ago...please take the time to read the statistics at the end of this and learn the signs. If anyone has contemplated anything like this...please find someone to talk to, if you have no one, please e-mail me)

Night Falls Fast

Night falls fast
and days fading light
casts shadows across the worn table
where reflections dance
in a tumbler of warm vodka.

Multicolored pills
lie scattered around
as if a rainbow crashed to the ground
leaving remnants in its wake.

One harsh, final breath
is ripped, in agonizing labor,
from a chest
that rises for the last time
then stills.

Silence rings
through the room
as darkness descends.

Night falls fast...
but for those left behind,
daylight never comes.


Some startling statistics on suicide in the US:
~Over half a million people a year attempt suicide seriously enough to require a trip to the emergency room
~Every 17 minutes someone succeeds in taking his or her own life
~Only 2-3% of all suicides occur among people with terminal illness
~Suicide is the second leading cause of death in the US among 15-19 years and college students
~1 in 10 college students and 1/5 of all high school students seriously consider committing suicide
~1 out of every 10 high school students admits to having attempted suicide

Suicide is a serious problem nation wide, but one we can all help do something about. Learn the warning signals and recognize them in friends and family and most importantly...offer and seek help for them before it’s too late.



 The poet's job is to put into words those feelings we all have that are so deep, so important, and yet so difficult to name, to tell the truth in such a beautiful way that people cannot live without it. ~Jane Kenyon

© Copyright 2000 Ruth Kephart - All Rights Reserved
Martie
Moderator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-09-21
Posts 28049
California
1 posted 2000-03-15 01:52 PM


Sad sigh--Ruth for the senselessness of lost life and the pain that brings it about
Balladeer
Administrator
Member Empyrean
since 1999-06-05
Posts 25505
Ft. Lauderdale, Fl USA
2 posted 2000-03-15 02:46 PM


Thank you for posting this, Ruth. It is such a senseless thing to throw away the only life we will ever know for nothing. For every person committing suicide, there are thousands begging to be allowed to live. Such a waste.....

Excellent poem..

Ravenlearns2fly
Member
since 2000-02-28
Posts 71

3 posted 2000-03-15 03:49 PM


Sad I am to think at 1 time that could of been me. Your words reach out to all, As I am sure your heart does to.  If not 4 souls like yours that reach out to others with kindness so many more would die.

Raven Legros

 

Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648

4 posted 2000-03-15 06:46 PM


This is so very tragic, Ruth.  

Denise

Poet deVine
Administrator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-05-26
Posts 22612
Hurricane Alley
5 posted 2000-03-15 07:10 PM


Thank you for reposting this..and for the information. I'm so sorry that you and your coworkers have to deal with this. My heart goes out to the family of the person who committed suicide.... so sad.
wildbill58
Junior Member
since 2000-02-26
Posts 19

6 posted 2000-03-15 07:22 PM


sorry to hear about that,hoot
Marge Tindal
Deputy Moderator 5 ToursDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 TourDeputy Moderator 1 Tour
Member Empyrean
since 1999-11-06
Posts 42384
Florida's Foreverly Shores
7 posted 2000-03-15 11:34 PM


Hoot~
Again so sad that family and friends are left with this loss and trauma.
My heart is with the family and with you
as you all work through this sorrow.
Love you ~*Marge*~


 ~*The pen of the poet never runs out of ink, as long as we breathe.*~
noles1@totcon.com


Severn
Member Rara Avis
since 1999-07-17
Posts 7704

8 posted 2000-03-16 12:29 PM


I remember this Ruth...how utterly distressing.



Hugs
K


 'Writing sharpens life;
life enriches writing'
Sylvia Plath

Corinne
Member Ascendant
since 1999-10-28
Posts 5167
state of confusion
9 posted 2000-03-16 12:53 PM


hoot,

a strong message here that needs to be reaffirmed again and again.

Thanks for reminding us how precious life is.

Cor

hoot_owl_rn
Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750
Glen Hope, PA USA
10 posted 2000-03-16 09:58 AM


Just a word of thanks to everyone for reading this and commenting. His memorial service is today, he was only in his 40's   It's such a shame that people come to a point where they reach this level of despiration, if only they would reach out to someone instead of bearing their burdens alone.
Alwye
Moderator
Member Elite
since 1999-06-16
Posts 3850
In the space between moments
11 posted 2000-03-16 10:29 PM


Deeply tragic, hoot..It is indeed a horrible thing to hear of so many taking their lives..

 *Krista Knutson*

~*Only when trudging through the soul's darkest midnight can one truly appreciate the glory of the sunrise*~



Butterflies_dont_cry
Member Elite
since 2000-03-06
Posts 3733
Michigan
12 posted 2000-03-16 11:24 PM


Problems are often much smaller when you share them with someone, but you often forget that when YOU are the one with the problem.  So sorry Hoot about your loss and to the family your friend.
lucky
Senior Member
since 2000-01-17
Posts 1601
Idaho
13 posted 2000-03-18 08:00 PM


Oh Dearest Heart:

Thank kyou for the remembrance of a friend so dear. My best friend of 20 years or more took his own life not to long ago. In the time we knew each other we stole each other’s lovers and lived through more than words could ever express. He never really left any clue for a reason except for this poem written by his own hand as his good-bye. I still find myself blaming myself for all the childish mistakes and mishaps. Perhaps you could check out our newest site .... and thank you so much for mentioning Jane Kenyon, we have been following her and Donald Hall’s work for years now. I just bought his last book (Without) I can feel just how bitter and cheated he feels in losing Jane. Death is terrible no matter how it’s seen.

God Bless You, The Keeper

Bridge People

As we walk alone,
looking at the ground
Does anyone see us,
in this cold, lonely town?
The eyes that don’t see us,
even tho’ they stare.

A dumpster for dinner
A bridge for a home
A great crowd of people
Yet we’re still all alone.

So onward I travel,
I wonder how far
A curse born forever
under a wondering star.

This was found in his pocket...

(Stephen Llewellyn Sadler)

Nov. 19th. 1955 - Nov. 23rd. 1995

An victim of suicied

A Day Of Sunshine

O gift of God! O perfect day:
Whereon shall no man work, but play;
Whereon it is enough for me,
Not to be doing, but to be!

Through every fibre of my brain,
Through every nerve, through every vein,
I feel the electric thrill, the touch
Of life, that seems almost to much.

I hear the wind among the trees
Playing celestial symphonies;
I see the branches downward bent,
Like keys of some great instrument.

And over me unrolls on high
The splendid scenery of the sky,
Where through a sapphire sea the sun
Sails like a golden galleon,

Towards yonder cloud-land in the west,
Towards yonder Islands of the Blest,
Whose steep sierra far uplifts
Its craggy summits white with drifts.

Blow, winds! and waft through all the rooms
The snowflakes of the cherry-blooms!
Blow, winds! and bend within my reach
The fiery blossoms of the peach!

O life and love! O happy throng
Of thoughts, whose only speech is song!
O heart of man! canst thou not be
Blithe as the air is, and as free?

(Henry Wadsworth Longfellow)


I Am a Part

I am a part of all that I have been;
The hawthorn’s shade, the robin’s wistful note,
I have the bitter berries in my heart,
The robin’s happy message in my throat.

Just as a tree is part of all the sun
That ever shone upon its smallest leaf,
So is my heart a living manuscript
Of all that I have known of joy or grief.

I am the laughter of the waking spring,
The pulse-beat in the root below the ground,
The small hands of a vine against a wall,
A clump of caressing willows closely bound.

I am part of all the friends I’ve known
The love I’ve shared, their laughter and their tears,
The seeking and the finding of a dream,
The braggart’s boasting and the widow’s fears.

I am a part of all that I have been.
The years have multiplied the bread and wine;
The harvest waits beyond the river’s brim
Where all that I have lost is truly mine.  (Edna Jaques)



 

hoot_owl_rn
Member Patricius
since 1999-07-05
Posts 10750
Glen Hope, PA USA
14 posted 2000-03-19 09:46 AM


Thank you Alwye and butter flies don't cry

Lucky...I am sorry for your loss and thank you for the nice reply and the poetry  

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