Caren Krutsinger Poet Free verse

I Would Never Know

When Missy came to the party,
It always truly began.
Her smile lit the room.
She was the essence of the life of the party.

We thought she knew it.
We did not tell her, because to do so
Would seem redundant.
She must know; we all knew.

When she did not show up in December
At our company Christmas party, 
We called her house six or seven times.
The phone was always busy.
She must be doing something else, we thought,
Oblivious to the knowing that was going to surprise us.

That Monday at work people met me with pink eyes.
“Missy is dead,” they told me.
Dead! 
She was only twenty-four.
“What happened?”
“She took her own life.
This did not compute.

Missy, the life of the party,
The one we all turned to,
The one several of us confided in,
Missy had given up on herself?
Didn’t she know we needed her?
Didn’t she know she was the rock of our department?
Didn’t she know her listening skills kept some of us from quitting?

Would she have ended her wonderful life
If it was truly so wonderful?
We got to know each other that day,
And told stories of how Missy had
Helped us, many stories, uplifting stories.
I left work knowing that she had known
Me, but I truly had not known her.

She had been my confidant.
She had been my favorite listener.
She had been there for me,
But how many time had I listened
To her?

Would she have given up on
Herself if I had been a better
Friend?

I would never know.

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Quoth Theraven October 27, 2019 at 9:46 AM Caren, A tragic poem here. We all know someone touched by such a loss. When someday never comes. -Richard Caren Krutsinger October 29, 2019 at 11:57 AM It is sadly happening more often each day.

Mike Gentile May 18, 2018 at 8:50 AM Caren, I found your poem to so moving, so well done. We all need to learn lessons and sometimes over and over again. This is a potent reminder xxoo Caren Krutsinger May 18, 2018 at 1:04 PM Thank you Mike.