A figure squat and dark
You melted hearts with your smile
Childlike and sad
You said goodbye to your parents.
Now, your children
In the "solemnest of industries”
Grieve and disbelieve
Struggling to accept your mysterious disappearance.
Within them, they will carry you
While she broods
Trying to reconcile
Years of frying peppers and watching pigeons
With the promise of loneliness
The birds oblivious
Roost, take flight, encircle their sanctuary
With no tears to disturb their iridescent coats
They return to peck in blessed ignorance
About the yard
Where once in crimson and lime
The roses of our youth grew the summer long
Worm and thorn hide from our eye
And frost on the way
1980
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