Studio8 - Uniting the Arts

Sorrow is a communicable disease,
you get it by being alive....

There was no open casket,
a simple mahogany box with golden key
rested on the table
amidst pictures
of a twenty-two-year-life, silenced
by a too-long fall;

the camera's eye caught
his boyish smiles
and generations of men who wore the green
stood together
and women who held him close
now fall apart.

Who was this man-child?
We'll never hear his children's laughter,
Ashes, ashes, and we all fall down.

Click.

Curiosity can be an uncomfortable emotion and the "too-long fall" opens the door to a whole new story that you do not tell. I hate to hear about a man's life cut short before he really had a chance to live. We all have to die, but why did he die so soon? Was he pushed or did he jump? Guess I'll never know and it pains me. But the poem is a good write anyway. I suppose I'll just have to live with my curiosity.

My humble apologies patrick traveler, I neglected to post the poem I wrote last Sunday, the day after I received the terrible news. I thought I did, I could have sworn I did but I searched and apparently I am mistaken.

Here is the *prequel* so to speak.


Ground


They found a letter,
contents unknown,
why does a young man who has
everything to live for jump out the
bathroom window 20 stories high?

Did you think you could fly?
Did you think that was a permanent solution
to your temporary problems?
Did you think your depression and pain
would not be felt by those who know and
love you,
after all... we all walk on the same ground,
we were your ground, and you
hid your falling until it was too late.



Spencer was a 22 yr old law student. Brilliant. Model/actor handsome. Cousin of my daughter's partner. No one knew. My grandson and he grew up together since they were 3 years old, only a few months separated their age. Two weeks ago, Justin drove Spencer to Chicago to begin his law studies. We are all devastated.cc

profoundly sad and frustrating.......a human soul is capable of caring the weight of the world completely undetected.......and when someone takes his life the loved ones inevitably wonder why......why didn't I see this coming.....I should have prevented this.......but in the end, the cover-up is just too good.....we all carry our secrets, often til the very end....whenever that may occur.......my deepest sympathy.....two very good poems

I think that's why we must celebrate life. In all its forms. Even death.

~A