Please use this blog to help us remember Joshua Lee Anderson, who made the tragic and fatal decision to take his life on Wednesday, March 18, 2009. Please post any memories or thoughts you may have in the comments.


Thursday, March 27, 2014

Poem: To The Young Who Want To Die by Gwendolyn Brooks

I received this poem from a fellow mom who lost her son to suicide exactly one month before Josh and knew I had to share on the blog.

I want every teen who is in that dark place to read it.

I wish Josh's could've read it that fateful night.



To the Young Who Want to Die
by Gwendolyn Brooks

Sit down.  Inhale.  Exhale. 
The gun will wait.  The lake will wait.
The tall gall in the small seductive vial
will wait will wait:
will wait a week: will wait through April.
You do not have to die this certain day.
Death will abide, will pamper your postponement.
I assure you death will wait.  Death has
a lot of time.  Death can
attend to you tomorrow.  Or next week.  Death is
just down the street; is most obliging neighbor;
can meet you any moment.

You need not die today.
Stay here - through pout or pain or peskiness.
Stay here.  See what the news is going to be tomorrow. 

Graves grow no green that you can use.
Remember, green's your color.  You are Spring. 

2 comments:

GrahamForeverInMyHeart said...

Very good poem. If only you could get it into the hands of teachers everywhere, perhaps it could be regularly introduced to students. I'll think about ways I might share it with others.

carlalaura said...

thank you for sharing, sue. and i love the comment by the teacher. carla xo