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Forever Goodbye

Death in a family can cause a family to fracture completely

By Barb DukemanPublished 6 months ago Updated 5 months ago 1 min read

A pair of delicate baby shoes,

Bronzed and set askew, a name

Chiseled on a nameplate.

Down the middle, a baby portrait

Enjoys its day.

Five years ago,

Give or take,

He refused to accept it.

I pleaded that it belonged him,

Just him. A relic of the past.

Knowing his stance, I watched the shoes

Languish in that old box destined for trash.

Measurable hate tucked inside,

Natural and unnatural,

Outweighed logic and love.

Predictable, his stubborn opinion;

Quietly aggressive, his attitude,

Ripping our family apart.

Suddenly, he deserted us-

Turning on brother and sister,

Unable to mend the broken fence.

Voiceless, powerless-

We succumbed.

Xenophobic toward his own blood,

Yenning toward isolation, he rides

Zephyrs of self-afflicted loneliness.

sad poetryheartbreakFree VerseFamilyfact or fiction

About the Creator

Barb Dukeman

An English teacher by trade, I’ve spent 32+ years in the classroom, instilling a love of literature (and a tolerance of writing) in my students. I started reading at the age of three and started writing at 13 with a poem about green socks.

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Comments (1)

  • Shirley Belk6 months ago

    That is heartbreaking, but honest and must be confronted, just like just did!

Barb DukemanWritten by Barb Dukeman

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