DEAD AT 12…

Children die all the time,

Before their parents,

And leaving behind brothers & sisters,

All not right, all not fair,

For children of any age,

Should never die or be sick or hurt.

Children should live to be young adults,

At least to 21, to know the fun of growing up,

To learn to drive and wreck the family car,

To have their first drink, or smoke their first smoke,

To know the pleasures of their first sexual experience,

To get through puberty,

To own their first car,

To drive dad & mom crazy with worry,

To know high school,

To try or not whatever it is they can,

To be an adult of some kind,

But not in this stinking world,

So many die in hospitals of rare disease,

Too many die of neglect,

And so many die of not their own choosing.

I knew a boy once,

He was 12,

He would/could have grown to be president,

Smarter and more loving than his older brother,

He went to the movies with his friends and their mom,

He never got home afterwards, as did his friends and their mom,

He was launched through the front windshield of a 59’ Pontiac,

After being hit head on by a drunk in a 53’ Buick,

The drunk wasn’t injured,

He walked away,

Stating it was their fault, “damn woman drivers,”

The brother of the boy, unfortunately found the drunk,

And beat him to a pulp,

So unfortunately he went to jail,

But he was then a vindicated male.

Now he wishes he were able to go back,

To change all that happened that fateful evening,

It was in 1975, the older brother was 21,

The older brother never again drank a drop,

Never again drove in any state other than wide awake,

If he did do something in the realm of drugs or alcohol,

He did so, in the privacy of his own home,

So his tears could not be heard or seen,

And that is the way it still is,

As he is much older now than he had been,

So much more knowledge,

And time has flowed through his veins,

He only wishes he could have been the one,

Who died that night in that horrible crash…

Can’t write of it anymore,

Hard to believe anything was ever written,

It is a terrible subject to deal with,

Never quite coming to terms with the boys loss,

Never did understand why a god of goodness & love,

Would take from his family,

A truly “golden child”, even though all have told him,

All that can be true of their god…

This older brother will never forgive that god,

And would rather live out his eternal life,

In the fires of hell if that does exist,

But his personal beliefs tell him; he will have other chances,

To live other lives, and to make up for what he lost,

And to do what he can the next life through…

                                                                                  (ed)