A Memorial Poem

Sweet William's Requiem

“You can’t see him,” was what they said,

And thus my heart crumbled like day old bread.

“But I have to, I have to say goodbye,” I pled,

“You can’t. He’s gone. He’s long since dead.”

Weeping I struggled to make some sense

The voice on the line, words did not mince—

And all the phrases were in past tense.

“He fell…he was…he lived…he died”—

To hear the news, I cried and cried.

Never at the altar will I stand by his side,

Always the bridesmaid, but never the bride.

So I sat by my parents’ graves that day

And said all the things I needed to say.

I prayed the prayer I wanted to pray—

And Irony of ironies—I gave him away. –C.H. Green @11/2011