The darkness loomed
Came grimly down…
Con-caved our home’s roof.
My mother cried…
There was nothing we could do.
Father guarded.
Pillar he stood.
Stone against the mallet.
He wouldn’t cry.
There was nothing we could do.
Unexpected, unnoticed
Unstoppable, it roared
Immortal it crawled
Suddenly crashing–
Slashes of the reaper
Fell
It grappled with the yielding boy
Violently taking him into dark silence.
My mother cried.
There was nothing we could do.
Nothing…
Copyright 1988, CA Schmidt. All rights reserved. Orig. appearing in Untitled 89, The Literary Magazine of University College, Rutgers University, 1989.
