Nearly autumn
home back home again
music drifting through the open window
and what I hope was not another gunshot
in my neighborhood in what once was
my safe little town where I raised three sons
without too much worry, one of whom has
a birthday today a quiet one I’m thinking
because of because and I wish I was there
to bake him a nice little cake crank up
some ice cream sing a merry tune
hold his slim self in my arms on
his own birthday that is today.