Tank Park Salute

Kiss me goodnight and say my prayers

Leave the light on at the top of the stairs

Tell me the names of the stars up in the sky

A tree taps on the window pane

That feeling smothers me again

Daddy is it true that we all have to die?

At the top of the stairs

Is darkness

I closed my eyes and when I looked

Your name was in the memorial book

And what had become of all the things we planned?

I accepted the commiserations

Of all your friends and your relations

But there’s some things I still don’t understand

You were so tall

How could you fall?

Some photographs of a summer’s day

A little boy’s lifetime away

Is all I’ve left of everything we’ve done

Like a pale moon in a sunny sky

Death gazes down as I pass by

To remind me that I’m but my father’s son

I offer up to you

This tribute

I offer up to you

This tank park salute