R.I.P. Liam Rector
![acad_grad_writ_rectorl[1].jpg](http://trouble.philadelphiaweekly.com/archives/acad_grad_writ_rectorl%5B1%5D.jpg)
The Remarkable Objectivity of Your Old Friends
by Liam RectorWe did right by your death and went out,
Right away, to a public place to drink,
To be with each other, to face it.We called other friends - the ones
Your mother hadn't called - and told them
What you had decided, and some saidWhat you did was right; it was the thing
You wanted and we'd just have to live
With that, that your life had been oneLong misery and they could see why you
Had chosen that, no matter what any of us
Thought about it, and anyway, one said,Most of us abandoned each other a long
Time ago and we'd have to face that
If we had any hope of getting it right.
Comments
This is certainly very sad. The poem seems almost prophetic. I think having a terminal illness (or one likely to be terminal) is one of the few reasons for suicide that most people would not consider to be indicative of an unsound mind. The will to live is normally so strong that people will usually tolerate an awful lot of misery before thinking of ending it all.
The part of the poem where it says: "some said what you did was right ... that your life had been one long misery and they could see why you had chosen that" - that sort of reminded me of the scene in Dickens' "Tale of Two Cities", where the guy says: "it is a far, far better thing I do than I have ever done before. It is a far, far better rest I go to than I have ever known before." - (or something to that effect). I guess the normal thing is to sometimes just live with an awful lot of pain.
Posted by: Kent | August 17, 2007 11:44 PM