Responding to Condolences

Thank you for your thoughts about my Jonah.

did you know that he was on the law review

I understand now why he liked New York.

so far from the mountain haze of Idaho

It was because of people there like you.

he had few friends and no one to confide in

He told me often that he loved his work

some of the partners treated him so bad

because he met so many people worth knowing.

was the service sweet, were any judges there

I'm glad you recognized his gentle ways,

his father never knew he went with men

his quiet burning for the proper course.

God give me strength I've twelve more cards to write

The Lord be with you and your family.

I die each morning he was my only son

Carolyn Raphael

From The Most Beautiful Room in the World : Poems by Carolyn Raphael,
David Robert Books, © 2010.  Originally printed in Diagrams of Bittersweet,
Somers Rocks Press, © 1997.  Reprinted by permission of the author.