Listening to Lilacs
by
Amethyst

they hoped I would forget you
quiet blond girl who came to play
they stopped visiting your family--
I might ask where you were
I was young
and years would pass

they never knew I walked
the long hill in springtime
to sit by your stone
and have lunch with you
to apologize
for any fights we'd ever had
to tell you things
I couldn't say to living ears,
your gentleness so apparent
in the kind fragrance of lilacs
I knew you were listening

your brother grew up
and volunteered for war
the only one in a family
of non-warriors
he never forgave himself
for the accident
though he was just a boy

he hacked his way
through jungles for a year
before finding his atonement;
ceremony in the park
medal on the coffin
a flag given to your family

how different it could have been
if only he'd sat down
beside the lilac bush
had lunch with you
allowed the purple blossoms
to tickle his face
like laughter
showering their perfume
and their certainty
that nothing would ever be
asked of him
but his remembrance
and his love