Editor's Note: This poem deals with the mature subject of suicide. If you are under the age of 13, I strongly encourage you to consult a parent/guardian before reading this poem, and to discuss the subject with them as well.
There's a ghost wandering the halls
Of Jackson elementary school.
Janey hung herself from the
Rafters of her ceiling
Yesterday at 4:06 pm
While the ball team practiced in the gym.
The silence in the halls of
Jackson elementary
Is haunting all who walk them.
Janey's ghost is eating lunch,
In an abandoned washroom stall,
And time marches forward.
The principal is quoted on the evening news,
"She was so quiet.
I never saw it coming.
It's a terrible shock to our school.
We are mourning."
To reassure the parents,
A grief counselor enters the school
And says gently, "I know this is a
Scary time but you are free and safe,
To say as you please."
And the voice at the back says,
"Okay. Janey was fat and she ate too
Much junk. Her father was a drunk
And she smelled funny.
No one liked her
and we're glad she's gone."
And the steadfast, gentle voice replies,
"Someone must have liked her -
If you believe she is not loved,
You will stand next to her mother
When they lower her into the ground."
The room is silent.
Only the words,
Whispered from ear to ear
Remain in the halls of
Jackson elementary.
They are the ghosts that cannot
Be taken back.
