Comparative Suffering

When a person ends their life
before their time who suffers most?

The person who was dying
from inside out who completed
the task that nobody willingly accepts
with a clarity that would otherwise be admired?

Or the family and friends
who live on after the event,
but always hoped
that the coldness inside
the person they knew
would not complete
the task it set out to do?

It takes a great humility
to admit you could not walk
that mile with another
and not just because
they would not let you.