Chants of Failure (a poem)

Day 8’s Theme: Depression

In the darkness was where she sat.
She had nothing to do but stare.
Like a music player on loop,
The voices would not stop,
“Failure!” they mocked her.

Her phone was turned off,
She knew her exams started 3days ago.
Food, her stomach had not seen,
But she was not worried.
“All join…”
She would handle all her problems together.
One blow would fix it all.

She had made the choice,
Now, she would handle it.
No one needed to know.
She would handle it.
They had warned her,
So she should handle it.
It was her fault…and Paul’s,
“A mistake!” he had cried
But she would handle it.

The doctor called it HIV.
She knew better,
She called it death.
She had spent days after thinking on it.
Strength to embrace it had come,
What to do had become clear.
One blow would handle it all.

Maybe, if she had looked again,
She would have seen the alternative.
You could not help her,
But perhaps you can help another.
Tell that other that,
Though she failed, she’s not a failure.