Not that yesterday's was any good, but today's will likely be worse, since I don't have all day to tinker with inspiration.
I started off this morning with a self-indulgent bit before work, fully intending to finish it while on break. But when I got to break, I found a voicemail from my mom and a text from my sister saying that Sgt. Daniel Thompson, a guy I graduated high school with, was killed in Afghanistan on Tuesday. (See story here.)
Naturally, I scrapped the first one and started one with the intent to memorialize him. Except it sounded like a hundred other poems that had been written. I scrapped that one, too, and wound up with this one.
_____________________________
Prayer for Daniel
The cuts on my hand
Seem like nothing compared to
The life your friends lost.
The extra bread he gave
Does not console me,
For I need little consoling.
I have but one simple memory of you:
In our eleventh year of school,
You showed me a poem
Written for your girlfriend.
The toothy grin you gave me
When I told you it was good
Will soon be buried under stars, stripes, and sand.
May you find peace on the other side,
For you did not find it here.
May those you loved behind
Carry your voice and smile in their hearts.
You will meet them in the hustle and the bustle
Of the Resurrection morn.
I pray that that is not the last you'll see of them.
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