The Long Cold Nights of June
It’s another year. The days still hang with nights that slow a heart’s beat. Clouds become as big and heavy as the sodden cheeks of mothers, with the tears that have spilt, soaking the ground where dogs stand barking. I beat back the air, stamping my feet, trying to kill death, as my screams reach Heaven. Did you ever hear them? So loud that they lasted forever, as I tried to pull you back. I tried to block the spreading grief, with all my heart and all my strength, and every shout of, “No! No! No!” laying on your body, looking for a trade, trying to pull you back, from the cold night and the darkness I couldn’t stop, that blocked your cries from getting back to me. Now I pray, Heaven keep you. The dogs stand watching a heavy sky, tears spilling on a cold night, and there’s still a distant echo of - “ no…no…no…”