Moria Lee

I must take care not to break the solemn rule of “everything in group therapy stays in group therapy” when I detail the inspiration for this poem. I would have to say that among dozens of other poems about mental illness and deep states of melancholy, “Moria Lee” owns the title of the saddest one.

A fellow patient at ICFR had told me that a few months earlier, she had experienced a miscarriage of her child. She kept a sketchbook with her at all times and invited people to write a message to her child in heaven on one of its pages. When she invited me to do this, I told her I would like to take the time to craft a proper message. After considering my words heavily, the completed message culminated in this completed poem.

I remember hearing about a fictitious depiction of purgatory, where a soul exists until their name is said on Earth for the very last time. Now, in my writing and publishing of this poem, I can keep the child’s memory alive in every utterance of her name: Moria Lee.