Wednesday, December 7, 2011

Should You Be Here Now


















Know that we waited as long as we could
That it killed us to leave without you
Especially your father – you know how
He is; always pretending to be so tough
But really, a marshmallow inside

But while you were gone, they came
For everyone that wasn’t registered
You can imagine the chaos and fear
And even though we hid out in the woods
Behind the alders way in back of our place
Hoping against hope that you would
Make it back before we had to disappear

I think all of us, even the babies, felt
On some level that there would be no way
Especially when the tanks rumbled
Down the streets and the soldiers
Marched into Wilsons, next door
And those other people’s we didn’t
Even get to know across the street
Rounded them up and out and shot them
Dead – everyone, even the children

Did you know the smell of shock is almost
Like that of vomit? Or maybe we had thrown up …
I don’t remember – it was an awful time
Knowing how quickly we had to gather
Things together and get out – trying
To forget that we were leaving
Without you, but we couldn’t think about
It or we wouldn’t ever go

So if you are here now, I guess I don’t
Need to tell you really but while
You were gone, everything changed
Everything but this – we never stopped loving you
To distraction, never stopped missing you
And wishing you had made it back
I have no advice except to tell you, maybe
Try and follow us – you cannot stay here -
While you were gone, that became clear
Please be safe dearest one, love always.

No comments:

Post a Comment