Twenty-Two

Did you know that, on average, twenty-two veterans commit suicide every single day? The numbers are as shocking as the deaths are horrifying. We must stop this epidemic.

TWENTY-TWO 

Twenty-two of you will make the choice today

To make today

The last day.

You've sacrificed so much already

Perhaps it is selfish of me

To ask this of you too

But --

I don't want you to live

In pain

Out of your mind

In anguish

Blinded by dark things

You can't unsee

Deafened by wordless screams

You can't unhear --

But I do want you to live:

To continue to fight

To continue to breathe

To continue to be.

See, I've stayed at your present address

The smells were different

The sounds were different

The furniture was a different style

And the walls

When they were mine

Weren't decorated with the same images as yours are

But it was the same

Unspeakable

Undescribable

Unending

Stuff as yours.

It brought me to my knees too.

What has made someone like you --

Someone as strong as you --

Huddle in the darkness like I have

Arms wrapped around the nothingness inside

Breath sucked in through clenched teeth

As every scar is redrawn in blood and fire

By memories of ghosts and smoke

I cannot imagine.

But you've sacrificed enough already

Please

Please

Don't do this.

Give us

Give me

One more day

To help make it right.

"Some 8,000 veterans are thought to die by suicide each year, a toll of about 22 per day, according to a 2012 VA study. The VA acknowledged the numbers might be significantly underestimated because they're based on incomplete data ...."

11 November 2013

(c) 2013 Sarah J. Fuhrman