warning signs

warning signs

for Stephen Huneck 

Dog Mountain gave up

her saint, her soul today

the headline read

Artist Huneck takes own life

oh, no

I cried to no one in the kitchen

as the paper unfolded

feeling pain again from the deaths of each

dog I ever loved

knowing some instant sorrow

sensing some loss

that would not be

explained

had some warning gone out

a signal too weak

to reach us where we all live here

on earth

no tower

no satellite

no transmission of urgency

emergency

warnings don’t always assault us

like a 4 X 8 fluorescent danger sign screaming

bridge out, take another route

some warnings are like a turning away

a silent, secretive tear

maybe sent out as a prayer

a dim beacon for rescue

we don’t all build a 32 square foot notice

of our pain

sometimes, we only look away at some view

we really don’t see

sometimes there is no reading of this language

few can hear

or even imagine

yet who has not headed into a time

and space appearing from a distance

in control

but instead careening toward some lonely hell

but

please

don’t blame

yourself

for missing the signs

sometimes

as we try to make our own way

other concerns won’t allow for

inconvenience

empathy

insight

and sometimes

one voice seems

too small to matter

when the same mind’s made up

who could have heard the whisper

the shout

or the even scream

so long past warning

but like a light that travels across the universe

or an impulse across a synapse

his warning

still may come in time

to save someone else

Barry DeCarli

January 15-17, 2010

Ferrisburgh, VT

Copyright 2010 Barry DeCarli