Lo, my name reeks
Lo, more than carrion smell
On summer days of burning sky...
Lo, my name reeks
Lo, more than that of a sturdy child
Who is said to belong to one who rejects him...
To whom shall I speak today?
I am burdened with grief
For lack of an intimate...
Death is before me today
(Like) a sick man's recovery,
Like going outdoors after confinement...
Death is before me today
Like a man's longing to see his home
When he has spent many years in captivity.
I was reading in George Howe Colt's Enigma of Suicide last night and found this poem in the opening page of the chapter on the history of suicide. This is the first recorded reference to suicide more than four thousand years ago in the Middle Kingdom in Egypt.
This leads me to believe that:
-Suicide is more common than we think
-Suicidal thoughts are somewhat natural
-Thoughts of worthlessness, low self esteem, etc. have been occurring for at least four thousand years (possibly longer but this is our earliest record)
-These thoughts are also a lot less unusual than society has formed us to think.
-Questioning death and its boundaries is part of understanding life.
your comment that questioning death and its boundaries is part of life is profound and provocative. I wonder how religious conceptions of life across time and cultures impact cultural dispositions toward suicide. If life is thought of as a gift from (a) god, for example, then to reject life would be in essence to reject god... if life is thought of as a choice of some sort, maybe suicide is seen differently...
ReplyDeleteThe poem you posted is beautifully poignant - death is before me today like a sick man's recovery. What an incredible metaphor. Death is health, life is illness, disease... wow.