THE PRAIRIE WILL LIVE ON

I can't comprehend
My mind is a blur of complications
Questions, I have no answers for
They're sitting there in the corner
With fragile bodies limp as dry grass
The prairie is silent and so am I.

Why can't I cry?
I can't perceive
People are woeful with red eyes
So clear with sympathy
My father's death so sudden and strange
The eyes in my sockets are barren like the prairie wind.

I now stand on the field of vast emptiness
Emotions start to fill my heart and young soul
A single teardrop flows down my cheek as hundreds of others follow
Like the mourning rain this prairie never receives
Now, I understand
My father has expired
The prairie will live on.
                                                                                     R.Zawi. '97

** This poem was inspired by the novel, Who Has Seen the Wind. The poem shows the little boy's (Brian) thoughts and confusions about his father's death and why he cannot cry like the other people.  Brian later goes to the prairie and finally realizes the answers to his questions: people die but the prairie will live forever.