Lou J. Klaiber

… RUNNING FROM THE FIRE WITH A SCREAMING CHILD

……….falling
and carrying the weight of fear
and her lips crying
upon midnight

and tearing at my neck
…wet with tears
and the scream of fears

falling

from her small dry lips,

silent now,

… and all
falling again

and again

into the gray cold place of death.

… the silence of morning

dark,

dead,

……… lost embers
from the old fire.

……… a Morning
in silence,
lost!

Silence!

as a child,

………… her lips
touching me
yet… cold.

… a small leg gone.

Blood gone forever
away…
away…
away.

A dead child beside me.

Her tiny Brother holding my hand.

The Sun rising!

Breathing slowly!

Life and Death

… become Dawn!