Joanie, Do You Remember?

Joanie, Remember When?

Joanie, do you remember
When you made up plays
and we performed them for Mom and Dad
Each kid having a part?

Joanie, do you remember
walking barrels in the yard
giving them horse names?
The small one with holes was Clipper.

Joanie, I think of you night and day
in dreams and sudden memories
that make my heart beat faster
and my eyes fill with tears

Time, they say, will lessen the sorrow
that I feel when you can’t answer anymore.
I say, time has no such power
I miss you more each day

I bury myself in busy-ness,
Piling on more new jobs
So my mind will stay busy.
And keep memories away.

Yet, with every task at hand
my mind calls to you. Joanie?
What do you think?
I yearn for your wisdom.

Or I can be searching online,
Or looking at posts on Facebook
And I see a photo of a giant horse.
It’s black, muscular, and 19 hands tall.

And the grief that skulks
in the shadows of my mind
assaults me, suddenly,
and before I can stop it,

My whole body shakes
with an ambush of sobs,
And no one—save you and me
would understand why.