Parable.

Walking through the woods

One night

I saw a man who'd made a noose

Out of his tattered tartan scarf

He'd expertly tied the knot

Just right

Perfectly tight, perfectly loose

I said hello

He only laughed

He only laughed at me

He only laughed at me

And said

"Your words mean nothing on the whole

I can't take them to the grave!"

I said back "If you're to

Be dead

Why bother speaking if your soul

Will never now be saved?"

Upon the tree from which

He hung

He scratched a simple 'x' to mark

His place of suicide

Inhaling he then jumped

And swung

Smashing straight into the bark

Breaking his neck

The man had died

The inhalation flew right out

Upon the man's untimely death

Yet the scratching in the bark remained