| JOHANNA ROAD |
I turn up that road again, Johanna Road, With someplace to go... without you. Without you it's only half as much fun. I accomplish half as much, if that. It's miles long that little stretch of road. It's gray and rough. It pushes against me. I struggle to put it behind me. I try not to think of you, but I'm off to the world again... alone. I try not to see you lying there... but I do. I try not to be angry... but I am. I try not to look... or think... Or see the marks that point to where your body lay... But they're there. They're there. In a little while... it seems forever... I'm past that place on Johanna Road. I move on in my life and back in my mind. I remember laboring to give you life and every moment since then. All those years... feeding... dressing... washing... loving... teaching... Don't talk to strangers... Be polite... Eat your vegetables... Do your homework... Love God... Be careful crossing the street... Don't trust... I turn down that road again... Johanna Road. It stands between me and home... I must go home. Without you it isn't really home. Miles again on that stretch of road. It's black and angry now. It screams at me. I drive the path she drove and unwillingly... I mimic her actions. I look away where she did... look back... I see you standing there, laughing with your friends. JOHANNA ! WEAR WHITE AFTER DARK! Did I forget to say that? I hear your head hit my windshield. I see you fly away from me. I remember you smiling, singing, "I'm gonna fly!" I try not to see your angel face lying there in the dark... Haloed in your own blood... But I do... I do. I try not to see you trying to vomit... unconscious... But I do... I do. I try to remember somewhere else... not Johanna Road, Some other moment... one of triumph... or of joy... But I see you asleep in a hospital bed Full of tubes trimmed with tapes and wires And I say "Goodbye, again... Again and again and yet again... On Johanna Road.
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Poetry |
Classic Collection |