Doug Draime: "Now That You Are Gone"

                  for Beth

The fact that we can receive

and transmit

music and voices through the air

amazes me. Everything amazes me! 

That life goes on amazes me. Your body

is under the

earth now. Molecules still expand

and contract. People are still at

war: the couple up front are still

trying to

kill each other. Children born innocent

still have a chance, if they don’t

accept it all. You are gone. Wall

Street goes on. Flowers grow. 

They still pick up the garbage. Evil

people who should have died

long ago still suck blood. 

It all amazes me! My love

for you and your love

for me always amazed me. 

And I pray your spirit

finds rest from

the world that killed

you. 

What I want to know is where can I offer

myself up? What mountain do I climb? 

(This piece appeared earlier in Northwest Magazine)