The Lunacy and Truth of “We are OK!”

by Carolin Messier

Seven strangers sit
holding mugs of herbal tea
as warmth and comfort.

Each tells a story
of love lost to suicide,
mysteries remain.

Sobs of grief and pain,
full of questions and self-doubt,
punctuate some tales.

Factual, detached,
chronologically precise,
one mourner reports.

Numbed in disbelief
a recent death stuns and dulls,
eyes fill silently.

Lives ripped and ruptured
try making sense of chaos
where none can be found.

Sweet memories shared
of life before the madness
brighten sad faces.

In the tragedies,
left to puzzle and survive,
we search for meaning.

Some prevailing truths
limited to suicide
can be ludicrous.

Then one smiles and laughs
and with solidarity
another joins in.

Grateful for this place
where talk of horror, lunacy,
and death shock no one.

We seven all are
members of a lonely club,
no one wants to be.

We all understand
life’s foundation’s been destroyed,
but a roof remains.