melvin was laid to rest on my front lawn

melvin was laid to rest on my front lawn

first, let me make it clear
that melvin and i never met

before today, this day
of unusual circumstances and

far too much heat for old men
though i expect he didn’t mind it

near as much as i did, out there
after eight o’clock, sun setting

and still hot enough for sweat
to bead up and roll down my back

i thought it was trash, and stooped
to clear a paper from the mower’s path

and there was melvin a. moore
kind, thoughtful face, and bald head

like me, so there was that instant bond
that hairless men reluctantly share

the breeze blew fitfully from the west
where the sky stretched a plume of smoke

from uncontrolled fires, flecks of ash
settling on my hands, on my shirt, on melvin

who looked up at me in quiet expectation
as though waiting for a final benediction

“God bless” i said to his picture, then
folded the last bit of his life

stuffed it in my back pocket and pushed
the mower right over his final resting place

About the Author

Jim Lewis is an internationally published poet, musician, and nurse practitioner. His poems have appeared online and in print in numerous journals from California to Nigeria to the UK. His first collection of poetry and photography “a clear day in october” is available on Amazon. A chapbook “every evening is december” is available at Praxis Magazine. To view more of his work click below.