Oh you thoughtless dying

Oh, you thoughtless dying who consider your brother not

Call me not your darling when of me you take no thought

Consider only your willingness to live on your own terms

No one shall take your freedom, no one your bridges burn

None shall break your fragile cup before you do yourself

None save you from the pain of death by numbing you with its drugs

None shock your heart from stilled to drumming

None breathe rich breath into your lungs

Until you lock your solid door

Until your keys in the lock you’ve stored

Until the cord from the phone you’ve pulled

That you’ve dropped to the floor

Left not as much as a paltry note

Left your last words echoing in our minds,

“Are you crazy, calling the police?!?

I’m fine” you said

So there was time, we thought

We hoped again and worried thick

We called the police, and they came again, quick. 

We can visit tomorrow, we conferred

Too shy of your anger, I didn’t call

There you went and fooled us all 

You were gone before the morning

April 1st 2024

For Susanne T.