They may ask you

How many coward's deaths

You've died

Or where your mother lives

You'll have plenty of time to think

While you're waiting to be free

And later

Far from suicide-proof rooms

and beige corridors

You'll stand

And give your answer

Which will take the form

Of a shout

Like the one you gave

From the opposite bank

For Josh and Jason

To pick up your clothes

And pick you up

On Town Farm Road

Where you'd be walking home

Feet and soul bare

On the gravel shoulder

And if they had never arrived

If you had walked through fields alone

You would have cried

But this time

You'll leave the tears

To someone else

Gabriel N. Gregoire

Virginia Beach 2006