Anne Walsh Donnelly – A Poem That Saved A Life
(Trigger warning – this post addresses suicide. Please exercise self-care.)
Photo by Rich Smith on Unsplash |
Writing has helped Anne Walsh Donnelly in her battle with depression. Today, she shares a poem that helped save her life.
She says, “I wrote this poem shortly after I had been suicidal. One night when I was feeling particularly low, words emerged from my unconsciousness and I wrote them down. The poem is written from the point of view of a girl who has lost her mother to suicide. Writing it made me realise how awful it would be for my children if I took my own life. I chose to stay alive for them.”
Death Is Nothing At All (previously published in The Blue Nib magazine)
After Henry Scott-Holland
Death is not –
nothing.
It is everything.
It is not –
a negligible accident.
For my mother chose
to storm
into the next room.
Our laughter forgotten.
Now, I roam derelict buildings
empty streets
screaming into the silent night.
Why couldn’t God
have taken her?
Quietly.