Four young men from my area (bay area in California) have been killed in the recent days fighting in Iraq .... but this is not a political statement....it is meant for all .... of all generations....
To Give
They give their lives at nineteen . . . twenty. Give their lives in years which do not hold the measure of evolution, Lives that fly the course of intimacy with a definitive breath. They give years whose run will no longer chase a callow heart, till that heart winds a promised path.
To have none but these unpolished days. Faithful silence, hold time before their sealed lids, the measure of what road laid ahead before this hour.
arms wrap around a chest pounds trickle of water over lips High sun blinds as he’s tossed into the air. Wiggling, laughing too loud he lands in his father’s hands. One more time Daddy. . . One more time. sands sift through fingers