growing up...1979

this grey spring day 
we all walk with heads down, shielded
from wind and rain
and the pitying eyes of strangers,

up the steep north slope
of a country cemetery, to stand
under slick black umbrellas

and watch, as
my daddy is dropped into a red clay 
hole

Forever;

and I am suddenly,
painfully,
nobody’s little girl


Shirley Alexander
©  1979

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