While we were watching
While we were watching

A poem

Photo by DESIGNECOLOGIST on Unsplash

We watched her sleeping

too late to call the time of death.

We watched as the machines

breathed for her

thinking about the many ways

we could have held her hand

we could have reached out

before the drugs and a noose

became her only solace.

So we made a scene

Brought church into the room

wailing God awake

watching and waiting

for the miracle before

we blamed him for the things

we saw coming.

We watched her breath

fall and wither

and we thought ourselves over-wise

to know the face of depression

before it is called suicide.

We wailed her life awake

Her sorrow filled our bodies

as if we understood for the first time

what it feels like to live in agony

to watch as everyone watched you die.

to later share in the communion of your life

the eulogies and cries sent up

as self-centered regrets.

who is to blame?

We watched as strangled flowers grew in her place.

Her children are many.
['Florence Wanjiku']
['Poetry On Medium', 'Depression', 'Poetry', 'Sadness And Loss', 'Poem']