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It's Not Serious Until They See It

Hopefully they'll see it soon.

By Casey JanePublished 6 years ago 2 min read
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It's not serious until they see it

It's not serious till you're dropping to the floor

Till you're skin and bones and nothing more

Until you're six months

To a year

To your whole life indoors,

Till you're a killer

Or dead

Not just dying of course.

Your chemo is tragic

But it's worse that you're bald

Cocaine is your habit

That's fine till you're old

And still using

And abusing

You failure

Your family must be hurt

That they weren't your saviour

But they did nothing, did they?

Merely asked

How are you?

And you were breathing

Just barely

So you said I'm fine thank you

It's nothing

Till it's everything.

Extremes or who gives a shit

You attention seeking,

Weak,

Piece of shit,

Kill yourself if you can't handle it.

This is life,

It's tough,

Grow up,

You're not a kid.

It's not serious till they see it

But the scars on your wrists

Are old after an hour,

And it's not their problem is it?

Another troubled youth

Just coming and going

Empty inside

With nobody knowing.

I'm homeless

And cold

And scared

And hungry.

But I'm on the edge

Of your vision

So I guess you can't see me?

He's losing his memory

And his family is crying

How sad

How unfortunate

But he's not dead, only dying.

She's rotting

In the past

And it haunts her every day

You can see it on her face

But she's still at work

So she must be okay.

Have you asked her?

She probably wouldn't tell you anyway.

No,

No I don't think she would.

Are you going to ask her?

You probably should.

No.

It's not serious until they see it

Till it's engraved in the stone

Till they're cold and unresponsive

And in their coffin alone

You don't see it till it's urgent

Till you can't brush it under

It's wrong to do that when they're six feet under.

But when they're living

And breathing

And toeing the line,

It's almost a given

To ignore all the signs.

Have you seen how quickly she's losing weight?

That new diet must be great

Of an empty plate

But she could afford to lose it

So she can't be ill,

She had nothing for breakfast

And she'll have nothing still.

He's trapped inside

An immobile shell

And his mobile body

Is left sat on the shelf.

But rip him of the choice

To live or die

Give him that choice

You're committing a crime.

But you've heard it before

Just another sob story

A name and a face

You'll forget in the morning.

Is this all?

Is this it?

Is this life?

Is this meaning?

Through the pain

And the death

And the loss

And the grieving.

Empathy and sympathy

Go hand in hand with ignorance

And we're stuck between

Not knowing

And not caring

If they're dead or alive

Or happy or nothing,

We've got our own problems

That keep us from stopping.

If a stranger cries

Avoidance is key

And if you can see it

Then don't look, it's easy.

It's not serious till it impacts our life

Till we're caught up

And trapped up

In the passing of time.

Till we can't carry on,

And it consumes our being,

But until then

Close your eyes

And embrace not seeing.

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