sometimes
love is love
but sometimes
love is hurt
like that sad day after
in Dallas
though
I was not around
when such national grieving occurred
still, I can imagine the incredible pain
his fine young wife
and prominent family were in
as well as the wrenching heart ache that this
distraught country must have endured
it was in a way
a somber death of seasons
by near natural design
the objective on looker
might even opt to admit
though those who themselves were mired
in the moment would likely beg to differ
still, I believe he shouldn't have had
to die
and yet his actual dying itself
has taught us all
lessons we otherwise
would likely not have learned
like that even those who have so much
can lose even more than what they merely
have
and great men buried beneath tragedy
are never forgotten
or
that there is deep unity in all men
alike
clear across the board when an entire nation
is in grief
the very country itself
dimmed that day
that alone says so very much
though you were far from perfect
still
you were a jewel
even if only in a terribly tarnished
crown
I wish you a future of better days
my dearly departed Mr. Kennedy
and may your fondest legacy long live
on.....................
(Feb. 23, 1999)