Retrograde

September 2017

I got a call to come back home and 

Wipe my brothers’ tears

I’d only been away a couple of weeks 

But it felt like years 

Despite my best work 

I couldn’t find words 

That made a shred of sense  

How am I to hold 

A mother who lost her child 

And help her make sense of it?

I don’t have answers for this 

I don’t know why I should I get to walk 

When you can’t even wake

I don’t want to walk in the woods anymore 

I just see a gun in your hand 

I don’t hear the birds 

I just see you laying where you once could stand 

I got a plane to return to my life 

But things don’t feel the same 

As I sit and wait in this terminal

I wish I could float away

And fly with you for a day