Passing a Funeral

I felt embarrassed,

Because as I walked

I ran my hands along a tree branch

Admiring the pattern that tiny mouths had made in the leaves

Like a mist on a cool day.

And a family gathered across the fence

To bury a loved one that had passed.

I thought back to a boy

I had known once

Who died some Summer

When we were fourteen.

I kept silent

Because he had bullied me

And I never learned to turn the other cheek.

What could either of us have known about life and death

Without feeling the sting of either?

And I am walking home

Passing a funeral

Walking on.