Year End Brag Letter

Normalcy seemed to resound 
like a year-end brag letter,
for out of reach are those possibilities
when locked up in a ward.

Voices itched inside her body 
and creepies crawled along her skin.
Scheduled meds didn't cessate this,
just kept the demons from screaming
loud enough for others to hear.

I ask about her, in cordial simplicity,
through our sporadic letter correspondence,
but those words only fill a void
that speechlessness requires,
for I know she isn't well.

Unable to contribute to society
must be a burden of worthlessness.
Long term, she hasn't seen 
the trials of the outside world,
only the weight of sin within.
No muscular arms carry that weigh with love
and no one receives her vain attempts.
Many boyfriends have left
over a decade ago
and took her sanity with them.

Possible opportunities of redemption
are now ghosts that taunt.

I flounder for words
to tell her plainly about
what's going on with my life.
Marriage, kids, home, hobbies, a job, 
all common things, generic to many,
seem like a year-end brag letter,

for in her life
all these things
could have been,
but are now far out of reach.

Instead, I prayerfully and artfully inscribe
just one phrase, and only this,
"Happy spring, a new beginning."

5/30/20
Copyright © | Year Posted 2020

Poem

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One Avatar
October 25, 2020 at 1:02 PM
Hey are you ok? Not seen you in a while...
Ligon Avatar
October 26, 2020 at 6:59 PM
Doing well, thanks. Will get back to reading you in a bit. Until then, take care.
One Avatar
June 23, 2020 at 5:31 PM
Spring is s new beginning, hopefully people can change... Hope you are well
Krutsinger Avatar
June 14, 2020 at 9:43 PM
I enjoyed this poem I so many ways. It is full of marvelous surprises.
Ligon Avatar
June 15, 2020 at 10:40 AM
Thanks, Caren. This one's about my sister. I'm always at a loss for words when it comes time to write to her. It grieves me to think that she had so much potential but squandered her life on sex and drugs. Now she is a schizophrenic and unable to make it on her own.
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