your trap spring has gone and caught me
even though I knew the score
should have kept back when I saw them
footprints on the dusty floor
I am a hope-less fool romantic
laid it all down at your door
should not have trodden any further
someone else had gone before
The mother wrings her hands
in desperation at the tragedy
the look of tired helplessness
unfolds like the twisted petals
of the rose nobody wishes for
The father sits and rests his head
against the white and clammy palms
so heavy from the weight of years
replaying all the memories
the very worst film in town
The brother kneels before the bed
his frantic, hoping supplication
a flood of bitter tears sustained
the belated pose of entreaty
too late to ask for second chances
You were so vivid on Saturday
I was listening to your song
the one about the space man
so strange and full of wonder
I’d been waiting for you for days
to hear what you had to tell me
this time could be the last
I hoped like crazy that it wasn’t
You sounded lively and electric
new things and places to explore
a jewelled skull on a faraway world
clear signal to the initiate one
Then you were gone on Sunday
I was listening to your song
the one which became a farewell
so quiet and yet full of wonder
Oh sweet butterfly
were you so tired
and did you know
that your faded wings
once simmering
once brilliant would
soon fall silent and still?
Oh mariposa
is that why you flew
so violently in to the
gathering clouds
your fragile body torn
and falling back to us
like terrible confetti?
Yes
you were tethered to this place
strong chains bound you here and
people stopped to point and mock
but we all of us have our shackles
so when you made that final pull
and ripped them sharply away
did you have to leave such a deep scar?
such a chasm in our world
when you flew away and left us
with our chains’ weight doubled
Did you?
It is so very tranquil here
in the shadow of these great trees
laden with sweet cherry blossom
and a chorus of native birds
I can tread the footsteps to you
with no guidance or direction
between the fine hewn granite stones
your name etched in permanent white
Every time I am drawn to it
I the magnetic supplicant
hide brimming eyes behind glasses
wonder whether you are watching
and whether you’d be proud of me today…
LVX CREARE 