Ways To Go

Content Warning: This post discusses themes of suicide and mental distress.

If suicide's a way to die,
will you hang or will you fry?
The hangman's noose or electric bath,
cotton sheets or voltage wrath;
paracetamol, aspirin or other capsule,
with alcohol to fuel the brew;
entry wound to cranium,
see the light, the blistering sun;
choose your weapon, drug or height,
a bridge too far, gravity's might;
the bus that travels down your street,
the train that ploughs with rhythmic beat;
arsenic, nightshade or other potion
sets the gut in jagged motion;
take the knife and plunge it deep,
watch the bloody mess excrete;
climb the chair and place the noose,
take the weight and hang there loose.

Whatever method that you choose,
your loved ones are the ones who lose.
So whatever else you think or do,
when thoughts arrive at inner doom,
Don't contemplate the ways to go,
Don't be your own personal foe,
Don't place the gun between your teeth,
Don't pull the trigger for relief,
Don't take the life that means so much,
Don't stifle life's far-reaching touch.
The pain for you will last a moment;
for others, everlasting torment.

By Alan Dickie