Life Lesson Taught By Suicide

Life is too precious to let troubles do it in.
My father's tragic death, I think on again.

The one who told me that I could reach the stars,
Gave up on life, due to overwhelming deep scars.

On the outside, his life was laughter and smiles.
He was a good father, helped me through the miles.

His pain he drowned in alcohol, it swam ashore.
I see this lesson clearly, for he lives no more.

Emotional pain intensfied, no escape from inside.
No one understood, in the alcohol it would hide.

Believing in God's promise, I can't understand;
Dwelling in confusion, the lesson still at hand.

Though many loved him so, he couldn't hold on.
His spirit broken and splintered, happiness gone.

The love and respect for him, I have not lost.
I will honor the man I call Father, at any cost.

It pains me, he never walked me down the aisle;
Dreaming he met my man, plagues me all the while.

I had seen the same pain in my husband's eyes,
Its ironic outer image, a sarcastic disguise.

Alcohol no longer looms over him, that's a thrill!
No other will I lose to its grasp, made to kill!

One lesson that I've picked up and carried along,
Is that I need a foundation, steady and strong.

I will not find hope in things that pass away.
God's love lifts me up, with Him I'll always stay.

If Dad had lived, many more lessons I could learn.
Though his death teaches me, for his love I yearn!