It's Not Serious Until They See It
Hopefully they'll see it soon.
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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