Hope's Daddy

She teases, giggles! "Race ya' home! You *know* I'll be there first!"

Bicycle wheel collides with Rock! Hope tumbles; she shrieks!

Oblivious, my tinny yellow Toodle-loop radio reposes on Earthen bed,
flung in pieces to Ground:
 Top Ten pop tunes silenced
Silence...

(But didn't I hear...?)

Freddie serenades two girls,

 "Beelzebub"   

climbs, climax! crescendoes! - 

oblivious to our pre-pubescent Theatre...

New Silence
til piercing shrill shriek screams!


Hope, brave agonized 12-yr-old,

broken bones cushioned by forest floor's embrace;

Burnt sienna waves a'tangle on Earthen pillows,

Evergreens; March's tentative Sun...

1975...

Sky, whispering, still holding Snow...

Hope, my friend, you broke your collarbone...

but...Your Dad will die in a freak accident, two years on; 

we had no revelation then...

Mr. Ski-Bum drove hastily Home to Brooklyn, 
Dreaming of the White White...

our beLoved Catskill Mts...
"Seven Days on, til I fly those slopes once more..."
Dreaming...

We  didn't know; nobody Saw:
the same Circle held a more deeply sinister view:

Another Brooklyn weekender 
tied trailer to 70's boat of an auto,

huge gas-guzzler holds exotic Nascar-worthy ride 

upon a flimsy homemade wooden bed,

amateurishly tied...
Instrument of your Daddy's death, my beLoved Hope...

displayed prominently in Time's Circle...but...

How on Earth could we see the Circle, then,
 ?

We didn't know...

Your fractured collarbone Pain felt like ether,  
against your Heart's sear-ed ache when your Dad departed...
Daddy...Hope's Daddy...

I knew not how to help...

Our Friendship stole hiatus, as we rode our separate Journeys;

Where are you now, angel?

I'm so sorry, Hopey!..

Sorry for your pain, my girl...

Do you recall...your bone-crunch into Forest's loving furrow 

sent me peddling, speeding home;
  12-yr-old limbs pumping Time's barriers,
( you said, "like orange juice bolts to a hangover,")

I raced Time for Home:
"Ambulance, please!!!"

Years before cell phones...

or  911...

I blamed myself...why?

I do not remember "why"