Not a coward But a cup overflowing With the damning dark
Not a coward But a human capable Of emotion's full spectrum
Not a coward But a father unable To see through the deafening dark
Not a coward But a man plagued By plundering depression
Not a coward But someone like me Wading through a cell
Not a coward But a person trying to breathe Yet inhaling only that which drowns
His muses became his captors His brain became his prison His family became his mourners
But he was not a coward He just wasn't a survivor
Soldiers slain under the hand of their enemies have not died because they cowered from their duties. They were overwhelmed, perhaps disadvantaged. We misunderstand depression as a society. We think it's a choice, something we can turn off and on. Like our phones, or the lights in our houses. But humans are not switches. Chester was not a coward. He was a human.