What is suicide?

anoldwoman

What is suicide?

I really need to know

How far does it go?

What is required 

before you've retired

From the life you know?

 

My mother died because she

did not do all that could be.

She did not follow her prescribed diet

She did not have a follow up test.

She died in her sleep 

No intent to leave this earth.

But did her neglect of herself constitute suicide?

 

My aunt died of an incurable disease.

The doctor tried to put her at ease.

There was stuff that they could do 

to prolong her life but it would be 

of very poor quality

and she would die anyway.

She decided to stay the way

she was

She died in her bed in peace without prolonged misery.

Did her refusal to prolong her life,

at any cost, constitute suicide?

 

My father was riddled with cancer, see.

He was as miserable as could be.

Type 1 diabetes and Hodgskin's disease

required medications all the way through.

He decided one day 

give it all away

He stopped taking the meds he required to live.

Took two weeks to die anyway.

Did his refusal to hang on forever constitute suicide?

 

If I get dementia or Alzheimer's too

I really don't know what to do

Do I really have to stay on this earth

For all my poor empty life is worth?

Is giving up, allowing the end to come

Such a sin that the One who is one

Would send me back to try again?

Must I live until the end?

What is suicide?

 

 

 

 

  • Author: anoldwoman (Offline Offline)
  • Published: April 23rd, 2017 21:31
  • Comment from author about the poem: I cannot kill myself - that is clearly suicide. But how far do I have to go to remain alive when the quality of my life is completely gone? What constitutes suicide?
  • Category: Unclassified
  • Views: 7
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Comments +

Comments1

  • jdblake

    Beautiful. I hate to admit that I cried but I did. I don't think any of those ways are suicide as long as you have made peace with your maker and do not become a debt to other when you are gone, then your price has been payed and you will live on in sun or the stars.

    • anoldwoman

      Thank you for your response. The question has long bothered me but I was afraid to write about such a subject.



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