Crumbles

At your father’s funeral The summer sun beats down On the red hot sand So dry and cracked That it crumbles The earth quakes With the stomping feet As voices stab the heat Singing final farewells I see your face So numb with grief That it crumbles I want to hold you To offer comfort Utter words That I cannot find My heart bleeds So overwhelmed by helplessness That it crumbles I hear laughter A man talks with old friends He kneels to wipe red dust Off his white shoes Can’t he sense your pain? My body tenses So angry at his selfishness That it crumbles I thought I understood the world But your suffering makes no sense I salute your courage You stand strong Even when tragedy shakes your soul So hard and cruel That is crumbles I wrote this the beginning of the year - a friend of mine lost her dad.