Ronnie’s Leap

Dedicated to the memory of my friend, Ronnie Benner, who killed himself by jumping off  the Shikellamy State Park lookout.

I keep playing it over and over
In my mind; he leaps again and again.
He climbs over the fence
And steps to the edge of all his yesterdays,
The breeze making his hair dance.
He has become unable to remember pleasure,
Thinking only of pain;
He is smothered in a blanket heavy with malaise;
No one to talk to,
No chance for release.
He takes one last step,
Then he’s gone.