Gregory

Gregory You made yesterdays news, invoking fears You were found on the streets Discarded and left to die alone Thrown away like a piece of garbage with little thought An inconvenience, as you struggled for your life So many questions and no answers…. Your thoughts were dark and twisted and not appropriate You did not fit the mould Opportunities wasted as you oared against the current The river washed you out and you choked to breathe Your thoughts were numbed by substances Chemicals that took away your sanity Robbed you of your family and your home Left your mother with a broken heart and tortured soul, struggling with forgiveness Your father fought his own demons just long enough to remember your life And then fall back into the abyss and darkness and forgottenness Your friends cried as they thought of you. Their scarred faces and souls with their big crosses around their necks Their tattooed and tattered young zombie bodies With their vacant eyes that bore too much pain to contain Thin and remorseful souls with the tears that fell down their cheeks like rain They loved you, you were a good friend! It was said you would give the shirt off your back for a friend Your first love wondered how she could have helped? Your grandfather has lived too long to see this day One more funeral in his 88 years A reminder of his son of 17 that was also discarded. Your brother tried to honour and play his guitar that you gave him Tears were shed Beautiful memories shared and kind words spoken A life too young Fell beneath the caverns of a broken world Aunts write poetry to make sense of it all, desperately writing to keep your memory alive Unspoken grief all around with nowhere to go One more forgotten victim of an epidemic Bi-polar they said Addicted they said As they sat in their offices high above the streets away from it all Making policies to keep you safe. Safe injection sights to shoot poison to your veins And kitchens with large pots of soup to sustain you until your imminent death The great unravelling of a generation You were loved by many You were a beautiful soul, a good friend, son, brother, cousin A beautiful child with big brown eyes and so much promise Gregory always remembered Rest peacefully sweet soul… Grace Daub August 25, 2021 written after my nephew’s untimely death- homeless and on the streets