2 June 2003 | Vol. 3, No. 2
The Sacrifice
Your son's hair wet with twilight,
his mouth a wound that won't heal.
We will pass down your legacy in our stares,
what we thought our best moments.
At such a point, you can only look away
as something like night is dragged down from the sky.
It's no matter when the best names have already been taken
for an instant you knew better than God.
Birdsong, from now on, will be varieties of cheap shots.
No cure like a smile, that proverbial boot.
About the author:
Mark DeCarteret's most recent book is The Great Apology (Oyster River Press, 2001). More of his poetry can be found online at can we have our ball back?, Mudlark, Red River Review, RIO: A Journal of the Arts, Shampoo, and Wired Hearts.
For further reading:
See the complete list of work by Mark DeCarteret at 42opus. Browse the contents of 42opus Vol. 3, No. 2, where "The Sacrifice" ran on June 2, 2003. List other work with these same labels: poetry.
