twenty-five years since we
didn’t see it coming
he threw the macaroni and
ran right off the roof
so many storeys
that never ended well
so many stories
he never got to tell
he never got the chance
to make children of his own
he never met my children
and now they’re fully grown
they never heard his jokes
he never made them laugh
they never knew this uncle
except through photographs
we never understood
what he could not endure
no-one knew or understood his pain
for hurt like that I wish that
we could find a cure, so
no-one has to go through that again
if he’d only known we loved him
though he could never hear it
if only there had been a way
to reach his troubled spirit
to end the gift of life that way
takes such a force of will
I wish that he were here today
I loved him, I miss him still
