The end of our trip my husband
tells me how my son’s classmate
was found hanging from a tree
in the park two blocks from my house.
I asked when, he said
“two days ago.”
I asked who, he said
“I don’t know yet.”
Silently I make the decision
to call my son,
tell him I love him,
and only God knows how much
I want to hold him.
I’ll never understand
how someone could find
life that hopeless.
I think about my own sister
and how much she’s missed.
He was twenty years old,
my God he hadn’t even
started his life yet.
Being a grief counselor
I know all the statistics,
he was probably drunk.
If he had a moment of clarity
he probably wouldn’t have done it.
Who am I to say his life
shouldn’t have ended,
my gut hurts because I know the pain
he’s left behind.
No family should ever know
that kind of pain.
Joyce Chelmo
http://www.poemhunter.com/poem/pain-no-family-should-know/
