Tribute*

A loud report! His skull bursts open the gunman’s bullet exterminates another life. A grotesque wound, blood spurting from shattered face. Red film that covers bone splintered flesh. Beneath a neon light on Fifth Avenue the body lies. Fate decreed life! Was not yours to keep, and so you died. you had started to write your work was young. Powerful moving full of promise. Yet hey were just beginnings. A dog howls, in salute to your spirit. A mournful tribute, to what you would have written. And a plea for your soul lost in the night. Copyright © Terence George Craddock