Poetic Whispers

Why

When she was in kindergarten

She heard her parents shrieking

And saw blood dripping from the bathroom tub

The next day her sister was announced dead

And she didn't understand why

When she was in middle school

She saw guidance counselors pull her friend out of class

And heard a rumor that she had cuts lining her wrists

The next day her friend denied the rumors but wore long sleeves and bracelets

And she didn't understand why

When she was in high school

An ambulance raced to her friend's house to bring her to the hospital

She was malnourished and purposely starving herself

But when people begged her to eat she cried that she was still too fat

And she didn't understand why

When she was in college

Her favorite professor overdosed

His suicide note said that no one would miss him

Because he was useless

And she didn't understand why

When she got her first job

She was raped by her boss

And everyone blamed her for leading him on

So she was fired

And she didn't undertand why

When she delivered her first baby

Her joy died when she got a call soon after

That her husband had died fighting in Afghanistan

Her friends tried to convince her that he was in a better place

And she didn't understand how

When her daughter was a teenager

She found a packet of cigarettes in her room

And when she asked why she was smoking

Her daughter slammed the door and said it was none of her business

And she didn't understand why

When her child died in a car crash

And she found out that she'd been driving under the influence

Everyone comforted her and said that it would be okay

But she'd lost her little girl

And she didn't understand why

When she was forty she was diagnosed with depression

She cut, purged, and planned her suicide note silently

Everyone said it would get better, just wait-

But she'd lost all hope

And now she could understand why