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.