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Thursday, December 1, 2011

In Honor of World AIDS Day: When Friends Die Young


When Friends Die Young (For James & Jr. & Kim & Cliff & Jet & Cunning & Rosemarie &
Frankie & Richard & Deborah & Every Tear That Falls Down On The Neighborhood Now
)

A part of you never
Understands. Your tears fall,
Hard, as violent rainstorms from
The heavens.
You swear at God!
You curse the fates! You barter
In bitter degrees. And you ache. You never stop
This aching. And you wonder why
You’re left behind
To grow older, while
Your friends
Expire into skeletons
Before their time.

Photobucket


When Young Women Die
A part of you never really understands.
You think of babies, never born, and
Of newborns dying,
Of sick babies,
Never forming their lips
In a kiss against
A mother’s cheek.

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You swear at God! You curse
This fuckin’ disease! You barter
For survival, in degrees… You make deals with
Your libido, your lust, your loneliness. And
You may exist, for years, without the succulence of
The human
Touch.

When Young Men Die
A part of you grows angry…
Your heart beats faster than
A speeding locomotive,
Your screams pitch
Louder than a subway’s thunder.
You try to remember:
The sounds of a friend’s laughter.
The autumn’s brilliant colors,
The way children smile and
Play with each other when
They think no one’s watching.
Photobucket

But you are watching them…
Watching these shiny kneed little boys
And little cornrowed chocolate girls…
As they grow, evolve, get older,
And life unfurls for them.
You keep watching, like a sentinel,
Or some quietly sobbing god… remembering
When their loved ones were such
A vital part of our
Living.

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One.




© 2011 by L.M.Ross moaningmanblues

9 comments:

Mizrepresent said...

Beautiful tribute...i have no other words.

WynnSong said...

Searching for words to say....
we don't understand why...
we mourn and remember, we celebrate the life, we ask questions that have no answers, we see the sadness. When there are no words, we have to let hope and faith fill the void and silence. We have to let the one we call God fill us with the peace and strength we need at that moment to make it through the tragedy of what life gives us on this journey. We have to grieve but not let the sadness overcome the joy of life......

Unknown said...

AWESOME and sad @ the same time.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes memories don't seem enough.

Daij said...

this is beautiful

Reggie said...

I can think of two young women that I know that died from AIDS, I can't say that I personally know any men that have died from it.

Hopefully one day soon a cure will be found.

Nice post my brother.

Babz Rawls Ivy said...

You always know how to give words to my pain. This is why I heart you! This is why I come here for solace.
Someday you gotta let me buy you a drink....

We are old friends now I think.

Chet said...

I could barley finish reading this before the tears can rolling down. Quite a tribute.

Chet said...

I could barley finish reading this before the tears can rolling down. Quite a tribute.