Erica Lee
Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry
Class of 2015

Josedbey/iStock/Thinkstock

Josedbey/iStock/Thinkstock

I died, yet they resuscitate.
Keep me alive. Do what it takes.
Insert a line. Crush my chest.
Spare no expense, run every test.

Machines vibrate, blood gets drawn.
Force me to breathe as the days go on.
Desperate attempts, I will not inhale.
Life supported, yet my organs still fail.

I want this to end. Pull out these tubes.
Turn everything off. No more food.
Bound to this bed. Stuck in my head.
I wish to die as I’m already dead.

I made it clear before this day.
I would not want to live this way.
Every failed attempt worsens my pain.
Mine is a life you cannot sustain.

Remember the person that did exist.
Let those happy memories persist.
If not alive, what am I then?
Dying you see, I’ve come to the end.

Please take this last piece of advice.
Stop the drugs and withdraw the device.
Come to me, whisper your goodbye.
Give me peace, and let me die.