Can't find
your Jimi Hendrix
tee-shirt;
I liked it
when you wore it
last year;
the whole 60s image
fitted you well,
your laid back stance,
the beard, moustache,
the humour sharp,
but not unkind.
We looked
for the Hendrix
tee-shirt everywhere,
but couldn't find.
You were my Stoic
philosopher;
I thought you
immortal
to a degree,
the one
who would outlast
us all,
be the one
to arrange us
from this
mortal coil,
but you went first,
death stole you twice,
the second time
for good,
the final kiss
and goodbye,
my son,
watching you die.
Apr 30, 2014
Apr 30, 2014 at 4:56 AM UTC
I bury my son
the rain falls
cold wet and miserable
I reach for something to say
but I am dumb
struck so
by your demise
We dressed you
in your sweatshirt
and trainers
the clothes had your
smell about them
I waited for you to speak
“Hi Dad I'm home”
but there was only silence
I wake in the middle
of the night
with thoughts of you
and what we might do
that day
then a wave
of remembrance
sweeps over me
and I remember
you are dead
A handful of soil
is my final act
which spatters
where your face
should be
the rain quickly
turning it to mud
I turn away
and see you
in the distance
watching us
as salted rain
runs off my nose
I want to cry out
your name
and ask why?
why and how
we came to this
a father laying his son
to rest
as the world
carries on with
it's own business
oblivious to our
grief
Goodbye my son
I may forgive God
in time
A long, long time
Apr 19, 2014
Apr 19, 2014 at 5:48 AM UTC
a simple touch away
a breath, a whisper,
a forgotten dream
a remembered smile
I cannot see
nor hear you
cannot touch
nor feel you
yet I know
you are here
my soul tells me so
thus has it been
since the moment
I died
Feb 8, 2014
Feb 8, 2014 at 8:46 AM UTC
Ethnic Cleansing
You
Blinked in the sun
The laughter ended
Young children lay
Seemingly bathing
As blood ran
From their wounds
Seeping into
The bright green grass
Turning it black
like your soul
You
Gun in hand
Dry eyed
Wept imaginary tears
Imagined fears
Fulfilled
Children’s lives stilled
Oct 28, 2011
Oct 28, 2011 at 6:18 AM UTC
Bundled rags,
As much a bed
As clothes,
Hang forlorn
From limp hand
That shakes
Spasmodically
As tears mingle with
Dirt fleck mist
Father, Mother
Grandma
Granddad
Sweet sister
Baby brother
All gone
On the train
Leaving you behind
To weep
At your loss
Now
And forever
In the future
This then
The last train
To Auschwitz-Birkenau
Sep 29, 2010
Sep 29, 2010 at 3:01 AM UTC
My daughter’s
Happy smiling face
At three years of age
Ran through my mind and
Stayed long enough to
Make me smile
As the roadside bomb
Blew her memory
And me
To bits
Sep 29, 2010
Sep 29, 2010 at 2:50 AM UTC
I barely heard the shot
The dull thud that
Sent your head rocking
This way and that
Surprised you gasped
An 'oh' and I
Felt you slump
I tried so hard
In vain
To contain
The bone and brain
So as not to lose
Any part of you but
There was too
Much blood for me
To stem the flow
In death as in life
You covered me
With your warmth
Sep 29, 2010
Sep 29, 2010 at 2:44 AM UTC
Once I knew an Angel
She gently held my hand
When I was a stranger
Lost in a strange land
She helped me combat my fears
Shielding me from the fight
Guiding my soul back
To the magic of the write
Silence now I hear
No more my Angel’s voice
Whether this is by design
Or not through her own choice
I guess I’ll never know
I’m just left to wonder why
My Angel had to go
Sep 29, 2010
Sep 29, 2010 at 2:39 AM UTC
In a dream I wandered through the cathedral of death
the dust and smoke catching me in my throat
as I counted myriad of souls that flew past me
Amazed, were they, at how they now were, lost and bewildered.
And some so fresh, not of the first to die, responders
so called, who came to help, to rescue and became
part of the event, surprised in the act of dying
desperately trying to contact their loved ones
even in death, and the white dust covering all
even those who, in their mistaken belief thought
that they were martyrs and in some spiritual world
for heroes and deservedly so, looking, for virgins
but all they found was disillusion as they wept for
those whom they had dispatched to oblivion with one
fell swoop and through a trick of fate and time they
saw the future and what it would bring and were ashamed.
Sep 16, 2010
Sep 16, 2010 at 12:28 PM UTC
The dull
red clouds
at evening
that caught
my consciousness
and held it
made me think
I would give
one leg
to be able
to see
all this
one day after
I was dead
Jul 6, 2010
Jul 6, 2010 at 3:01 PM UTC