I
Was flat upon my chest
And crawling on the ground
Trying to keep
My small head down
My brother in the grass
Dressed up in army green
Back where we
Two could not be seen
And then I heard a crack
And saw him
Still
Like a GI Joe
Left out on the bedroom floor
Mentioning the Motel Shadow
Briefly brings a passing pang;
For her tortured teenage lover
In the days rebellion rang
All about her and within her
When defiance, fierce and free
Drove her daily to destruction
Motel Shadow’s canopy
While the former flame had flickered
She her sheltered shyness shed;
He had dithered to addiction
Foremost his fixation fed
Mentioning the Motel Shadow
Was demolished yesterday;
Sudden sorrow in her visage
Just as quickly
Went away
She looked at me, concerned, but
With a weariness of heart;
Then spoke these words,
Made sacred in her age:
“Life is for the living, son
The dead have played their part;
The play goes on
Although some leave the stage”
Victoria in the moment
Head thrown back and laughing
Brushing her hair off her forehead
Sparkle in her eyes
Victoria slowly lies back
Head upon her pillow
Says she growing tired
Needs to go to sleep
Victoria in the moment
Forgets she’s nearly ninety
Forgets that her body’s failing
Remembers she’s still alive
The day was hot and heavy
Honeysuckle in the air
The bees and flies were buzzing
I could feel them everywhere
And, sweating on the dusty path
That led out of the woods
I skirted by the country club
And golf course neighborhoods
And down the shell-path road I went
To a barbed-wire fence;
Behind that was the power plant
Which was, of course, immense
It sat before me, humming
Smoke and lights in bright array
Just as the shift was changing
Toward the closing of that day
I sat and watched the sun go down
The people down below;
Then headed to the dorm room that
I’d left four hours ago
Why walk eight miles in summer heat?
Why sit there by the hour?
Well, I was young and full of thought
And, I guess, drawn
To power
Sing again to me of Summers gone by
When careless winds blew through flowing hair
Sing to me of time spent in admiration
In laughter, and in the music of new souls
The song I still remember
But I need to hear you sing it
Do you remember the tune? The words?
Do you remember Summer’s fragile kiss?
And whenever lovers play
Where the sea meets the sky
Underneath a drenching yellow sun
The song is still remembered
Still sung
Sing again to me of Summers gone by
When love burned wildly on our shoulders
And every night was spent
Only when we were
If I have memories of happy times
Is it a tragedy that those times are gone
Or a blessing I ever had them?
For I can choose one or the other
I can let happiness continue
Or continually mourn its loss
