[p o e t r y]

The Kids That Won't Come Back

Next year
We will be the kids that
Don't come back
The other kids at school
Will look around the hallway for us
They'll search for our faces in the
Lunchroom crowd
And they'll seek our names
On the class list
Wondering
"Where did so and so
Go. Why aren't they here?"
And then they'll remember
We've graduated
We aren't coming back
We just never got to say our goodbyes
We didn't
Go out with a bang
We graduated quietly
As if we were a whisper
Of smoke
Quickly vanishing in the wind
Graduating in the midst
Of a loud and deadly
Pandemic. 

(05/11/20)