I stayed home
To keep myself from crying
For a man
I'd only known as a boy
With dancing eyes
And a face that smiled
Without stimulus.
I stayed home
To keep myself from seeing
His mother
A woman of faith and music
Laughter and compassion
Suddenly gray and sullen
Mired and muted
Leaden.
I stayed home
Was not in the line
Blocks long
And hours deep
I had already made that walk
To badly comfort a mother
Who suddenly had one fewer son
Than that with which she had started the week.
I stayed home
Because I was depleted
And tired of death.
I was tired
And could do nothing.
I stayed home.
