By the Water's Edge

“Hello,” I say, “are you OK?”
He isn't, I can see.
Wondering where I came from,
He eyes me suspiciously.
He's standing there
Weighed down with care.

“You're not going to...?” I ask,
Not daring to complete.
Not knowing what to say,
He looks down at his feet.
The river rushes by,
The sun sets in the sky.

He steps back from the water's edge
Allowing himself a moment's reprieve. 
'Where did you come from?' he says -
This is hard to believe.
I challenged God to stop me if he could
and suddenly you're here stood.

“I was just about to jump in.”
“Don't do that”, I say,
“Let's talk, let's take a walk,
Don't throw your life away.
Let's leave this place,
And give ourselves some space."

We walk and he tells me his troubles,
his hopeless situation.
I have to admit it's bad
and I don't have an explanation,
but I do know for sure
it’s not bad enough to die for.

“Whether God sent me to you
I really don’t know,” I say,
“I was just passing by,
but who knows God’s way?
One thing though is clear,
It’s good that I am here.

“This may shock you, my friend,
But I have been where you are now.
This place of apparent ‘no way out’
is familiar to me, and how.
I can tell you, as bad as you feel,
You’re not the first to face this ordeal.”

To know that I’ve been there as well
is plainly a revelation,
Suicide is not the only way out
of this nightmare situation.
There is light at the tunnel's end,
I am becoming his confidant and friend.

Life's experiences are sometimes hard to bear
but going through them makes us strong
and we can help someone else
whose life has gone all wrong.
We can listen and understand -
be the Samaritan who lends a hand.

So if you see a suffering person
Remember, you may be his only hope
Don't let the situation worsen,
As he teeters on the slippery slope.
Speak kindly, show him a better way,
Be the friend he needs today.