Death by Drowning: a prayer
Photo by Kae Catalan
Photo Manipulation by Erica Nicole Jabel
I run my fingers through
the coarseness of his scars, skin
thickened after a softening
by blood, by metal, by rust, by
the narrow slice between opened
and closed, his daughter watches,
softening
the war hero returns in headlines
brave soldier; lost a limb, lost a friend,
lost a god, courage measured
in sacrifice, to ruin a home is sacrifice,
how courageous I am; brave soldier
returning to a braver man,
headlines
on driving past a clear road
mid-day, scorch-trail, where
the sun hits the bomb hits the legs
hits the second-in-command hits
the ground, dust raining down, three gone
on driving past a clear road, mid-day,
home two oceans, one scorch-trail
away
one god watches above the bed, three forms,
phases; water filling the void; father, vapor
broken by heat; mother, ice melting in place;
daughter, three forms above me, one god
beside, nailed in a mid-day cross
filling the void
