Sunday, August 31, 2014

In This Place



I am here.
            But Bobby isn’t.
I am here.
            But Joanne’s voice is absent from our chanting.
I am here.
            But both Karin  and Karen  look down from heaven.
I am here.
            But Laura is missing.
I am here.
            But neither Alfredo nor David can give me any more Spanish lessons.
I am here.
            But Matthew was martyred a quarter century ago.
I am here.
            But the Lord called the other Martina home.
I am here.
            But Mary Frances’s apartment isn’t hers anymore.
I am here.
             But April is no longer a second reason to visit Tuscon.

I am here.
But I would timeshare my life
were such a thing  possible.

I am here.
But failing to fill the impossible gap left
in the arc of universe, being towards justice.

I am here.
But I carry daily pain so deep
I often forsake remembering in favor of sanity.