Tuesday, February 14, 2012

Taking More Poetic License


Class Photograph, Miss Chick's School
Lancaster, Massachusetts

Perhaps they mean to stand side by side
In 1941. "Friends forever" one whispers
"...and ever" comes the unspoken reply, a rote
Lesson for two who will bear each other
Up through disease, five children
(The last two a party's legacy),
Two divorces, betrayal and booze,
Too many deaths. Perhaps they mean to
Stand together nearly sixty years later
In a kitchen too small to hold their lives
And whisper those words again.

L.A. Rice
2000

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