I Remember (1996)

I remember you
Piano and plastic Viking hat.
I remember you
Banjo and kidney pool.
I remember you
Replica home
And thumbnail shingles.
I remember you
Well-worn rugged chair
And ceramic coffee cup.
 
And I remember you
This and that,
But always forgotten
In the aftermath.
 
I remember you
Oxygen tank
And hospital gown.
 
I remember you
Daddy’s tears
And open casket.

I remember you

The white

And the blackness.
 
I try to imagine you
Funeral pyre,
In a boat asleep,
Fire arrows sweep
The heavens;
Heat and cinder
Wash you away
Into tidal waters.

But instead I remember you,

Eternal,
Beneath dandelions and stone
Buried deep down;
Alone.