Doug Roy, Sturgeon Pie, Cut Paper
“The Second Nephew”
Passing by that familiar house,
Halfway up the hill on Louisiana Ave
It’s got the swaying bushes reaching up
Past the houses stacked like cards
And the wind threatening the flimsy house
Inside he is a ghost beckoning me,
Telling me a story, the night he ended it
He was beautiful, golden brown hair, radiant,
Radiant face too, eyes that shined.
I am reminded of the dead Spartans
At Thermopylae, said to be beautiful
And brave, my second nephew was young,
Are the boys all beautiful after they die? He
Was a champion body builder, perhaps
On the other side it will mean something.
On this side of heaven, outside of Eden,
Where the dike has broken, flooded the land,
We are on the side of a hill on Louisiana Ave
In a house of cards, and the wind gathers
Strength and says, ‘All the young are dying’
Because you did not save or nourish the land,
Because you did not love your children.
The second nephew is talking now,
He never worried about omens, laughs now,
“Don’t listen to the wind,” he says,
“My uncle, you were always the dreamer,
After the flood, and the wind dying down,
And my ending it, you still have this house
Of cards.”
______________
Zeke Sanchez