How Many Times....? ! Poem by moon batchelder

how many...
how many times...
how many times must you keep hitting bottom
before finally giving it up?
give it a break!
what ever it takes for you to
lay aside despair's futility and self-loathing...
what ever it takes for you to finally
face your phantoms and heal your past....
what ever it takes for you to stay your hand
from slowly carving away at your flesh,
from poisoning your soul,
that do! and be done with it!

have you...
have you no...
have you no mercy? do you feel nothing
while subjecting all around you who care
to the grotesque, wrenching visage of your
time-lapse suicide?
what ever it takes for you to get some gumption...
get a clue,
what ever it takes for you to cease this spectacle,
use some common sense...
what ever it is you need to do to quit
behaving like a ghoul,
making a graveyard of your flesh,
a wasteland of your soul,
that do! and be done with it!

it isn't...
it isn't fair...
it isn't fair to anyone, you know, especially you.
and we, who feel the loss and love you
can't bear to watch again
as you go on and on
performing the dance of your
slow motion self destruct.