Life balanced on a scale—
you were left with
a difficult choice
weighing the pull
of everlasting comfort,
thumb tipped by evils
and our selfish
desire
to keep you here.
It felt like only yesterday
we spoke of
Crisp
White
Shirts
for Walter,
honoring
a mentor who also
hung–
in balance
passing
his ways
to
fatherless sons.
and you—
strong grip
on the fiddle,
Irish ballads,
and rocky life migrations
you saw it fit to follow
no longer content
to forge or forage
imperfect elegance,
and
wrinkled humor
a time-worn statue of a man
moving forward in ease
but tragedy strikes
the exhausted soul
who stops
to rest.
Marcus Wilson is Associate Poetry Editor for Iron Horse Literary Review. Based in Vermont’s Green Mountains, he writes from experiences of neurodivergence and recovery, exploring memory, inner life, and transformation. His poems appear or are forthcoming in Main Street Rag, The Braided Way, and The Passionfruit Review.
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