A whisper made it through the night
a  snap
a turn
a scream
darkness was our only cover
a boy
a girl
a scene
We didn't know one another
a soul
a girl
why me?
I barely knew him

July Thirty-first

It's been a year

Since we talked. Since you were here.

And although my life is forever changed

Through so many things, your life remains:



in a word, a smile, a scent, a sound

for that split second i look around

and tell myself you are in a better place

there is no pain upon your face.



There are no more moments to wish for peace

no more waiting for time to cease



Through the eyes of every being of light

in the innocent laugh of a child's delight

in the soft clatter of summer rain

in the crunch of gravel on dry terrain

in the glistening sun on birds in flight

and the sound of leaves rustling through the night

you speak to me.



In my dreams, these moments make hours

your smile embraces my soul

I am grateful to sense your being

you are content, at peace, and whole



As I slowly awaken, I begin to see

unlike the leaf fallen from its tree

the winds of time will not take you from me



And while your physical form is forever gone

It is through these things, mom, your life lives on.

I remember my old grand dad
Always wore his Sunday best
We always called him "Poppy"
It was always pinned upon his chest

For as long as I remember
He always had that piece of red
Tattered, torn, but sturdy
In memory of the dead

Echoes in his mind of years
Images so real
I never asked him what he saw
His tears...they sealed the deal
A silver screen of vintage flicks
In his brain of days gone by
Of good times with the friends he had
Of the days he saw them die

"Poppy" sat out on the porch
With his beat up Meerschaum pipe
He kept it tight between his lips
I never once saw it alight

He'd stare out in the distance
Seeing things from back in time
He'd listen to the voices
He never quite heard mine

We lost him back in eighty three
When "Poppy" got the wire
He was the last of his platoon
They had just lost Cpl. Squire

Echoes in his mind of years
Images so real
I never asked him what he saw
His tears...they sealed the deal
A silver screen of vintage flicks
In his brain of days gone by
Of good times with the friends he had
Of the days he saw them die




"Poppy" went inside himself
Never spoke another word
He was back with his old friends
As free as a free bird

Each year he would get dressed up
"Poppy" would go out on parade
He never, ever left the house
The porch was the longest trip he made

On the eleventh of November
He'd would polish up his boots
And at precisely eleven hundred hours
He would stand there and salute

Two minutes more of silence
From a man who didn't speak
But his actions, they said volumes
They showed that "Poppy" was not weak

Echoes in his mind of years
Images so real
I never asked him what he saw
His tears...they sealed the deal
A silver screen of vintage flicks
In his brain of days gone by
Of good times with the friends he had
Of the days he saw them die


"Poppy" never left his prison
The one he created in his head
His world was just the front porch
And the life that he once led

I remember my old grand dad
With his poppy, beat by time
It would adorn his chest proudly
And I now wear it on mine.

Every time I hear the phone ring once I've gone to bed
I shudder
I'm afraid of what the news might be if I go and answer
I shudder
I hate the sound of that **** phone
Late at night and all alone
Feel like a kid though I am grown
I shudder

I don't want to hear that someone died
That phone just reaches deep inside
And pulls me to a place I don't want to go
With parents ill, and others sick
That ringing phones a ***** trick
The news that comes with it ...I just don't want to know

My mind is racing like my heart
With images of life as we once knew it
I don't want to forget a single day
Of how we laughed and we would play
I just don't know how I will quite get through it
The thought of losing someone close...is tough
Of pain and grief, this heart has had enough.....

So....Every time I hear the phone ring once I've gone to bed
I shudder
I'm afraid of what the news might be if I go and answer
I shudder
I hate the sound of that **** phone
Late at night and all alone
Feel like a kid though I am grown
I shudder