Loved ones gather for comfort.
We cry. We laugh. We remember.
I ride to the park with our grandchildren.
Your bicycle hangs in the garage;
I’ll have to find someone to take it.

The days drag on, the weeks fly by, 
the year ends.
Forever is a cloud, opaque, without substance,
but I understand a year –
a calendar with twelve blank pages –
an entire year without you,
followed by another, and another…
                        

He is gone				
Claimed by Death	
Let us mourn		

One last salute
Fold the flag
Play Taps

Lower the casket		
Say goodbye					
He is gone		

Turn away		
See the valley		
blurred by tears 	

The sun is bright	
on this dark day	
heavy with loss	

Life goes on		
Empty			
Pointless		

He is gone		
Claimed by Death
We shall grieve
                        

Andy’s favorite toys all had wheels –
Trucks, cars, and his most
favorite of all, a little red caboose.

He played with trucks all day, but at night
when he squeezed his eyes shut,
he could ride in the caboose.

He heard the engineer, the brakeman
and the conductor calling to each other over 
the sounds of a locomotive, whistles, brakes.

The landscapes he passed were pictures from his books– 
farms, towns, jungles and seashores.
He saw cows, elephants, even penguins, on his travels.

He felt the sway of the car, was lulled by the click 
of wheels on track, and when the train stopped,
he was back in his bed.

When he told his family of his excursions,
his dad said, “Humph,” and went back to watching the news.
His mother shook her head and smiled.
His sister rolled her eyes.

Grandma, in the nursing home, said,
“That sounds wonderful, Andrew.  I rode trains a lot
when I was younger.  I used to go by train to 
visit your grandpa at the army post.”

Andy had company in the caboose the next night.
As they passed the farm where Grandma grew up 
she told him how she and her brothers liked to jump 
from the rafters in the barn into a big pile of hay.

At her old country church, Grandma said, “This is my stop, Andrew.
Goodbye, Dear.  I’m glad we could take this ride together.”
She walked past the church, out back
to where Grandpa was buried. From the cemetery gate, 
she blew Andy a kiss as the train moved on.