First Edit: No Such Things as Happy Endings

[Richard]

No Such Things as Happy Endings

I didn't know at the time,
but I was actually greeting death
when I kissed you goodbye.
Your cheek reeking
of poisonous medicine,
head bald.
I thought it was going
to be just another sleepless night
reading year old health magazines
in the hospital dayroom,
I thought I'd drink another cup
of cafeteria coffee
and comment to the cashier about the weather.
I was wrong.

When I slept the next morning, I dreamed
of my grandmother, drinking her third beer
from a porcelain mug. Beside her
was the grandfather I never met.
He smiled like a priest,
recited an unfamiliar prayer.
When he asked for my hand, I refused,
not out of fear, but because
I knew what he stole from you.

Original:
No Such Things as Happy Endings

Broken eyes finally fixed,
I was actually greeting death
when I kissed you goodbye last night.
Your cheek reeked of poisonous medicine,
head bald-
you used to tell me how dad first noticed
you because of your curly hair.

When I slept the next morning, the hidden sun
became my grandmother, drinking her third beer
from a porcelain mug. The hazy sky
the grandfather I never knew, distant
like what he stole from you.