Condolences To Persons Unknown To Me Poem by Elia Michael

I heard a man had taken his own life.
I did not know this man but I was sad
To hear the news; it cut me like a knife.
I wondered what was so terribly bad
He felt he had to make this dread decision.
There must have been some awful circumstances.
Then I recalled with clear and sharp precision,
With pain, the one whose memory still lances
My ageing broken heart, though years have passed.
So when I heard of this untimely death,
My thoughts were forced to journey to the past.

Thus I, with saddened sympathetic breath,
Extend my deep condolences to you,
As one who knows, the hurt you're going through.