I can’t help but remember
you, though you’ve been
gone for decades.
Thoughts of yesterday
run through my mind like
an old black & white rerun
on television.  I see the past,
though fuzzy, but pray
for a brighter future.
You were never there
for the important things
in my life: band contests,
high school graduation,
the birth of your first
grandchild.  On this day,
I’ll have to say, “I learned 
from you.”  I chose
a better path.