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The poems

© 2010-2013

closure

If I hear the word “closure” one more time
I’ll scream
There is no closure when a child dies
You can’t close the door
On a lifetime of love and responsibility
Of wanting and needing, from the time they are born
To protect them
And then finding out you can’t
And feeling, no matter what people tell you
That you somehow didn’t do your job
You didn’t keep them safe
You couldn’t keep away every bad person
Car crash, overdose, addiction, heart attack,
Bullet, knife, mountain slide
Train, airplane, bomb, aneurysm –
Any of it, any of it
Worst of all, you worry – even now
That they are OK, that they are well
That they are safe
When you don’t really know
Where they are ….

You don’t have closure
Your child and your love
Go on forever
They are always yours
Always there
The place at the table stays empty
Because no one else can fill it
Stays empty to honor the place
They had – they have
In your life
You cannot have closure
Because it’s not done
Having them is never done
And losing them is never done
And you never, ever close the door
On someone you love ….