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Open Poetry #3
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Corinne
Member Ascendant
since 1999-10-28
Posts 5167
state of confusion

0 posted 1999-10-30 11:55 PM


Born Again Cowboy

The coffin lies open for all of us to see
Now I feel like a child again, hiding behind
My mother’s skirt, crying not for you but for me
I reach for the tissues and hand them to Auntie

Auntie moves closer, beckons me to follow
But I am frozen here; I “view” your body from
The very last pew, against the wall, my hollow
Voice echoes the sad songs sung of mourning

I miss that belly laugh, boisterously loud
Your calls on the phone timed to two minutes flat
Your views on life, so foreign, overly proud
I often held my tongue out of love

She talks to you as if you are still here
And makes me sleep in your place on her bed
I lie awake in horror, knowing you died there
I roll over, see your gun under the nightstand

I walk around your old house, looking around
Those silly boa ties you wore hang on a wall
The cowboy hats too, the desert rocks you found
On the dresser, waiting to become belt buckles

The words of your religion, posted here and there
In the bathroom, to remind you everyday
The wallpaper depicts the old west, and a pair
Of bookends shaped like guns hold your bibles

I think of you in terms like unconditional love
You loved me no matter how lost I became
The night before we laid you to rest we thought of
All those funny inventions and get rich schemes

The chinchilla farm failed, so you let them all go
Now Connecticut is probably full of them
The wooden skis for your boat, the baths of snow
You claimed kept you young in those early days

So many things I will forever miss about you
How you had to prove you could still do cart wheels
And had to time my races because you knew
I could not be as fast as I said I was, but I was.

She is lost without you after sixty-one years
The poor gal is blind now but she can see
That the road ahead is rough; she sheds no tears
The world is a little less bright now

To Uncle Bob 1921-1999
© March 1999 Corinne Bailey

© Copyright 1999 Corinne - All Rights Reserved
Denise
Moderator
Member Seraphic
since 1999-08-22
Posts 22648

1 posted 1999-10-31 12:13 PM


What a lovely tribute to your Uncle Bob. Sounds like a great guy to know!

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Denise


Watcher666
Senior Member
since 1999-10-13
Posts 1606

2 posted 1999-11-02 05:20 PM


Beautiful tribute!

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Illusion...what we see and what we do...it's all up to you.

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