The Sunshine Bed

[jbstillwater]

Angel sleeps tucked in her sunshine bed.
The over head socket empty and bare.
She whispers a song into Teddy' s ear.
A soft goodnight for only he to hear.'
.
How could she know?
.
Spring arrived too early that year,
and winter never showed chill for fuel.
"A swimmin' summer," grandma told us all,
but the sea turned red-filled with bloom.

.
How could we have known?
.
Fall came and brought old widow-maker fire,
sent birds and men to dust in early graves.
Pinions, sage and thistle all were gone.
Bare earth, a promise to plant again soon.
.
The paint shop opened early every morn
while Angel slept upstairs in her sunshine bed.
Her mind yet fuzzy as she starts her day.
A breakfast blend of smoke and inhaled fumes.
.
She never knew.
.
The truck idled and belched a fearful call.
She wakes, gets dressed and off to school she goes,
breathing what she thinks is God' s clean air.
A head ache pounding just before noon.
.
Surely Mom would tell her, if she knew!
.
The bruises came when she was just five,
around her back and down her arms and legs.
Vitamins, they said with juice and milk.
As she grew weak before her sunshine bed.

The room is stark and cold, the drip is on,
as Mother sits and holds her head and cries.
While Angel chokes a song in Teddy' s ear.
A soft goodbye for only him to hear,
.
Goodbye,

They told them...
they should have known.




Published 2007, Nisqually Delta Review
Poetry of Ecology and Peace
Editor-CarrieAnn Thunnel

[Lisa Arnold]

a very well crafted poem Jan

I much enjoyed you this evening:)

thanks for posting and have a great weekend

[rrw]

A sad but lovely story. I like the structure your using. The rhythm and sound at the end of each line is solid. Nice work in the way the story progresses. All around good work.

[michaelgallatin]

Sometimes we don't "know" and that's very sad. And often we wish we could have said and done more, shown our love more, had someone with us even a minute longer. But life and death are fickle and don't always play out as we wish. All we can do is love, care and show it to those who matter to us while they are by our side. And after they are gone cherish the good times, smiles, warmth they left in our souls. This is a marvelous poem of love and loss. Sad surely but under that is an undying love that surpasses time, loss and death!

Bless you and yours and much love,
Mike


PS - And sometimes and in some ways it's better not to "know"!

[purplespirit]

Oh Jan, what a sad story expressed in such wonderful, soulful and thoughtful verses. It appears so perfect and it is perfect to me, many thanks! Ulla xx

[The Great Fulcanelli]

A sad poem, which can be described as the heir of Victorian melancholy. I thought that genre was extinct a long time ago, but apparently in the hands of some it is still alive. Thanks for sharing!

[jbstillwater]

Thanks guys, well, this poem deals with the subject of pollution and how it has caused so many lives and illness. In my own personal experience, it was my daughter Kristen to asthma, and my granddaughter, Erin is now in remisson from Leukemia. Although responsible adults should "know" we can not expect our children to "know" how to protect themselves and help save our polluted world, but they are beginning to learn, and we need to teach them. ,

[johan]

Humans themselves have caused so many of these illnesses by polluting this beautiful world Jan, perhaps in the future we may understand we are only guardians of this planet, we don't own it and should respect all of nature and it's animals, and the future for our children, your sad but so interesting poem has touched me.

Andrew

[jbstillwater]

Thanks Andrew, so true!