The news fell on us all

Some of us sank back into our chairs

And others wept a few painful tears.

But was he really gone? We wondered

Heading back to our sanctum

That he had changed our lives in.

The foosball tables sat there

He had played with the best of us

Had been a father to the rest of us.

And we sat on the couches

Pensive and quiet

Except for the sobs that pierced the silence.

One boy threw rocks from the hill

And others went outside and screamed

In this moment of deepest sorrow, it seemed

That there was a venerable cloak

A hood of sadness

That drew us all in.

‘Funeral Blues’ rang through my head

As I tried to console the others

While she cried into my shirt, over came my brother.

He looked faintly tired

But his blue eyes were dry

He asked how I was on this day gone awry.

How are you taking it, his exact words,

I know. They burned themselves

Into my mind where the memories dwell.

The memories of the laughter and y’alls

And the shaving cream

Now to be the most painful of beautiful dreams.

Where the hood of sadness

Drew us in and where

We found ourselves somehow in there.

Aren’t we stronger than this?

We asked our friends

Never seeming to realize that everything ends.

Our parents, that day,

They left us alone

His southern accent a ringing tone

Like a solemn bell

In our heads all that time

We never heard the sermon that he would have rhymed.

And if you didn’t know him,

This may sound a bit strange

But all of us who have been estranged

Can understand what I mean

We loved him the most

He gave us Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

Finally, we left the room

In groups or alone

That room that we called our shelter, our home.

His office is locked

We don’t have the key

To remind us he’s somewhere that we cannot be.

We can’t write him letters

Or ask him a thing

Dial his number, give him a ring.

He doesn’t exist

Le fantome de l’eglise

But in our hearts he has a place.

Forever and ever

We keep him close by

And maybe that way, we won’t say goodbye.

But in truth, we all have

We say things that remind us

That he’s gone, behind us.

We love you forever

We’ll never forget

The hood that drew us in.