Here are two poems I read at the City Council meeting recently for Suicide Prevention Week.
The first was part of the commendation presented to the Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Suicide Prevention Center.
A Choice
By Dr. Janet Cameron Hoult 8/30/2014
Dedicated to the counselors at Didi Hirsch Mental Health Services Suicide Prevention Center
It’s been more than 15 years since I lost my son
My pain was deep as deep could be – he was my only one
No one could understand my grief
Or give relief, even if brief
Memories churned and turned inside
I contemplated suicide
My world was dark, I saw no light
Hopes for my son were gone from sight
The darkness became even worse
Then someone suggested Didi Hirsch
I met a counselor who helped me see
How from dark thoughts I could be free
It took some time, but I learned to cope
And live my life again with hope
My skills are needed again and again
And each time I help, it is I who win
Sometimes I think of my counselor’s voice
And her reminder that I have a choice
I chose to live and use my skills
Knowing when I die it will be God’s will
I wrote the second poem a few years ago after talking with a former student.
Sentenced to Life
By Janet Hoult 9/2008
A beautiful young woman, depressed for a very long time
Said that she hadn’t yet overcome her crime
She felt her crime was being born, being allowed to live
She hadn’t ever realized just what she had to give
Her plaintive plea to her doctor, was to let her go her way
Yet her doctor tried to help her live through every single day
She cried and said, “But Doctor, you have sentenced me to life
I simply can’t continue to handle this stress and strife!”
“Oh, yes,” the doctor told her, “Life is full of woe
But it can be joyful, not just because I said so.
Come with me to the Cancer Ward to see the children there
The ones who, after chemo, have lost all of their hair
Watch them as they smile and enjoy themselves in play
Wishing they could play longer and extend their day
These youngsters live each moment as full as they possibly can
Knowing that they may never be an adult woman or man.
So look at how you can help them to live their fullest now
And you will find your stress reduced, that’s my solemn vow”
So the doctor and the patient, worked to reduce her strife
And now she’s forgotten about suicide, content to be “sentenced to life”
Dr. Hoult, poetess laureate of Culver City, may be contacted at HOULTight@aol.com
