The Road

The sun casts a golden , warm light upon the field
The tips of the grass feel soft to the hand
We walk slowly as the wind blows our clothes
dust floating in the air like stars

I remember her eyes looking directly into mine
I remember her face, the way the light caught her hair
I remember her voice, I remember her smile
her light, magical hand in mine
the field of space and time
where all life began
it seemed

I closed my eyes and remembered the delivery room where you were born
I heard from the waiting room an electronic greeting card
"Linus and Lucy" / the Charlie Brown theme
every detail of the delivery room
the sound, the sight - burned into my mind
I can see it now

I open my eyes again and I see, flash forward
our family
the picnic in the field
peanut butter - jelly - one for you and one for me

It feels good to remember what the sun felt like

The day the darkness began
I had just pulled out of the driveway, to take you to school
and I noticed the snow on my windshield
was mixed with a black ash
I knew then the flash and the sound
we thought we heard the night before
was no dream
I went back into the house
and started to fill the tub with water


I open my eyes
and wipe away the fine dust
it is 12:00 in the morning, the sun is high above
soon there will be enough light to be able to see
The birds, hungry - flying overhead

Now
Another nosebleed
not good
I turn your head down
I notice the color
of the red drops falling into snow
evergray

Not a single plant left living
nothing green, a few lichen
only burned trees and snow and horde
roving bands of cannibals
Above, birds struggling to keep flight
feathered skeletons
blown by the wind

We are moving south
There'll be no surviving the winter here