For 25 years, Carlie Wilcox and her mom have been watching over Carlie’s brother, currently living in a Victoria shelter. She read her poem at the packed memorial Wednesday hosted by Solid Outreach for three of the most recent people to die in the city and around the province in the toxic drug crisis. People living homeless account for 12 per cent of the 18,000 toxic drug deaths in BC in the last decade, but are at 24 times the risk. Here’s Carlie’s poem – for Nox, Haley, Jonah, and all the lonely, hurting people still out there:

This was a person
They had a name
They had a frame
A body, bones, nose, toes
Head, hair, heart and mind
Beautiful and wise
Mind caught up in chaos, in trauma
Heart holding too much pain
Light flickered at times, blazed on occasion

This was a person
They had skills and talents
Hopes, dreams, stories

They had a life
Lost, taken, stolen
Too soon

They had family and friends
They were loved

This was a person
A human being
This was my friend
I miss them
I love them

How long
Will all this
Keep going on?