Hindsight 20 20

We found him lying on the cold Stainless table inside the morgue With only a thin piece of cloth Draped over him, still as moth. He didn’t come home the night before, So we just left an unlocked door; At noon next day a neighbor came, Who heard on the radio a name That somehow sounded much like his. Stunned, we hoped it was not true That he was stabbed, didn’t make it through; Yet sure enough when we got there, And breathed in the deathly air, It was my brother with stitches on And all his color neatly gone. It pained me much to see him so Violently deprived of life, His body pierced thrice with a knife By one who sneaked up from behind And picked the first that he could find. Twenty long years have since passed by Still I don’t completely know why, Or how, another human being could Dare to treat life like a piece of wood. But Time has a way of healing Any wound no matter how deep Or how much you drown it in sleep Though always it leaves a mark, Reminder of a past that’s dark. I tried to look in some places Some excuses that would lessen The anguish, if it would not deaden. Yeah, it is an imperfect world Where some things really can appall, Where even pretty flowers fall, And babes die before they can crawl. While I find it hard to digest, This is all that I came up best: I learned that sometimes to forgive Is easier than to forget. Among 1st Place Hindsight 20 20 Poetry Contest Sponsored by Crystol Woods