You haunted us as you were haunted
Spectres spreading from your head
To your heart
To your hands
To the souls of your daughters and son.
You were haunted
Hunted
Hounded by demons of your own creation
Reality slipping,  spiraling slowly
Out and away
Grasping at lucidity
Groping for clarity
Desperate for breath in the growing vacuum
Of your world.

We spread your ashes at Brandy Creek
Three generations went into the woods
And two came back.
We took you to the waterfall
Poured you like milk
Spreading cloudy white into the earth
We took you to the dogwood
On the creek bed
In the shelter of a wise and fallen oak
Covered you like a sleeping baby with leaves
We took you to the stump by the rock
Overlooking the creek
Spread you like wishes in its gut
And prayed for new life from your remains.
We exorcised you in Whiskeytown
Spread your head and heart and hands
And broke you free of the bounty on your soul.