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Our messages became less frequent

Every week became

Every month

And then you slipped away

Into the darkness

That darkness took away your light

As the distance grew

Your light faded away

Until one night

You decided to turn off

Your light for eternity

All I want is to turn that light back on

But I missed my chance

And now I have to go on living

Without seeing your light again

I missed my chance to save your light

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Artist statement

This poem is about my experience of losing one of the people I’ve felt closest to, my auntie. She battled with mental health issues and made the decision to take her own life. This decision left me feeling at fault for not doing enough to help her, but also mad that there was nothing I could do to change what had been done. I have experienced mental health issues throughout my life alongside my disabilities, and what I have learnt is that we are never completely alone. Even though my auntie may have felt that ... I will never know, but what I do know is that she was there to make sure I didn’t feel alone.

Poetry and photography are the mediums that have helped me work through my pain, mental and physical - The poems and images I have published here, on Our Site, and on Neve are some examples of my work. For more of Olive's work go to @oliveoctaviaphotography.

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