Poem by Michelin Mason

NOT DEAD YET

I have lived to see another spring

To breathe in the blossom's perfumed air

To feel again the sun warming my skin

To wonder at the life we share

I have another chance to notice

Shining eyes meeting my own

Some with love, some with questions

The hope, fear, pain we have all shown

I can touch again those I care for

With my hands, my mind, my heart

They touch me as if for the first time

New thoughts, our dreams just start

Physical pain I have know plenty

Impairment holds little fear for me

But to feel unwanted, a burden, a weight

Is the intolerable pain I flee

The answer cannot lie in murder made easy

In fuelling guilt, complicitly and dread

It lies in the courage to create a kinder world

In which no one would choose to be dead

Happily, I am not dead yet

I have lived to see another spring

I will use every precious moment I have left

This welcome change to bring

Micheline Mason 2006

Michelin Mason