Remembrance


He didn't make a sound 
when he hit the dirty floor,
'cause there was no one there
to hear him anymore.

Under the kitchen table:
cobwebs and balls of dust.
There's that  antique jackknife, 
That you thought you lost.

And then your heart stopped.
It was weary and broken.
All the loved ones lost,
The "I Love you”s  left unspoken.

And the ones you cared about,
have all passed away,
The children you once played with,
now live so far away.

The sink is filled with dirty dishes,
Moldy food in the ‘fridge.
A grease spattered wall,
Is this really all there is?

The end of every month,
Seven hundred in the red.
No money for food or beer
Is it any wonder that you're dead.

I wouldn't view the body
Something I couldn’t do.
That's not the way 
I wanted to remember you.

A camo shirt and sweat 
stained hat,
Sitting at a park bench,
Down at Fort Mott.

Ashes in the water,
pale clouds billowing.
When the water receded,
I found you there in Spring.

I took some fragments to the ocean,
and released you to the sea. 
My eyes filled with tears,
my head with memories.

Walking the boardwalk 
with you on summer nights,
the amusement piers with
their swirling colored lights.

The sound of the ocean, 
the smell of the bay,
children playing on the beach,
on an endless summer day.

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