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Endgame
by Catherine Chandler
While trailing clouds it never crossed my mind —
that final, gruesome fact. Of course I knew
that old folks passed away. Sometimes behind
great-uncles we would ride, a retinue
of cousins pressed into the somber suit,
of grown-ups whispering a word, bequest.
And then the war. Our Tommy’s last salute.
The real thing. No, this was not a test.
No airy intimations; Death had found
a grudging playmate for his hide-and-seek.
With butterflies I skirt the hallowed ground,
safe for another day, another week.
How will it end, and where? — my tainted thought.
When will I hear him cry, “READY OR NOT!”?
[ Previously published in Möbius, Volume 20, Number 1, Spring & Summer 2005 ]
Catherine Chandler’s poetry has been published in numerous print and online journals and anthologies in the U.S., the U.K., Canada and Australia. She has recently been featured in Able Muse, The Centrifugal Eye, Sonnetto Poesia and The HyperTexts. A multiple Pushcart Prize nominee and two-time finalist in the Nemerov Sonnet competition, Catherine is the author of two Chapbooks, For No Good Reason (2008) and All Or Nothing (2010), both from Olive Press.
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Pat Jones
Published 28 July 2010
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