He had witnessed
the innocent kids
piled up
in a country
far away
where death
was commonplace
and no one
baked cupcakes
bearing the names
of the slain,
only keened
like maternal sirens
against the inevitable
moment.

He took comfort that
Back in the World
the children
roamed in safety
and grew plump
on promises
far from land mines,
shrieking Phantoms,
dangerous strangers
with barking weapons.

He did not,
could not,
foresee a time
when those
same weapons
would turn
their deadly mouths
on babies,
back in the world.

But the sins
of the fathers
circle back
to the world
and the bodies
of children
wear doomed grins
like death heads
at the karmic irony.

Now that illusion
of a last, safe place
is rent and torn
and there is
no longer a world
to go back to.

   mce

Sometimes
it's the only thing
between you and
death.

Distillers
have saved more lives
than all
the suicide hotlines
in the world.

Here's to you.

mce

No one
is more
qualified
than you
to decide
what
your life
will be.

Don't fight
the power;
be
the power.

On the subject
of you, you are
the only expert
you will ever
really need.

~mce

My precious  daughter  moved away,
Like every child would
One day
In my heart I was  glad
And I died.

I know you had to go
Following  your art
And your heart.
It was like letting a dove go
From my hand
To be free
To fly in the sky
To the welcoming  hands of a friend.

A curtain raises
And a curtain falls
On the many acts of life
You now walk on a new path
So far away
Many journeys starting
Crisscrossing
And ending
Yours and mine
Forever entwined.