Who Knew

Poetry by Barry H. Gordon

Someone wrote tenderly,
knowingly,
of the death of a classmate,
as we casually prepared
for the reunion
of the living
next summer.

Who knew, Durbin,
that your oddness,
your awkward efforts
to connect,
were linked to years,
fourteen we are told,
in a foster home.
And who knew
of the heartache
you carried at graduation
because your father
hadn’t survived to see you
walk across the stage
of life.

And who knew
really much of anything
about the true you,
or the true me
for that matter.
We just walked across
that stage
and most of us
kept on walking.

Still, I am jolted
to hear
you have dropped out of line
and I have missed
my chance to know you.

Barry H. Gordon is a retired psychologist and a published author of Your Father, Your Self and two co-authored books. He is an emerging poet who has been writing poetry throughout his career.