for Patty

 memorial

memories

drawing feelings, tears

laughter, whimsy, sorrow, dread

laughter again, this time subdued

in the realization she is gone

dash

wee carnations, baby’s breath delicate

in slender, white container set

on the flat stone with loved names

and lifetimes of struggle, dreams

pain and laughter given no more

than a dash between numbers

soft flowers in memory

of their gift of life

but proving too insubstantial

as the wind nudges it over

the water spills across letters

etched in stone

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