The Afterlife

Robert Boates
From:   The afterlife. Toronto: Seraphim Editions. 1998.

It's the aftermath
of child abuse
A severe head injury
Love's destruction
It's losing a spiritual mate
Sobbing tear-ducts dry
Remorse and hatred
Living dead
It's abandonment
Sleeping in a bed
once shared
It's reoccurring dreams
of a grass widow wife
Counting the months
not knowing days of the week
Watching seasons come and go
Never seeing the children
It's a crazy Keeshond
who had to be put down
It's a dormant telephone
and Mormons at the door
It's life on welfare
and disability pension
Smoking tobacco again
It's Tegratal for seizures
and Prozac for depression
Waiting on the law
Returning to prayer
Keeping promises to God
and Geraldine
It's no longer asking
about reunion
It's not maybe someday
It's letting her go
alone in a journey
toward sanity

Poem 1 | Poem 2 | Poem 3 | Poem 4 | Poem 5 | Poem 6 | Poem 7 | Poem 8

Robert Boates's works copyright © to the author.