BROOKLYN

In some ways you are
one of at least a thousand stories
who pass through these halls
each year.

But this afternoon, you are another
transient soul about to wander. . .

This time you're bound for Illinois
six months with your father
though between the two of you
there is nothing you would really
call a plan.

As we talk in the hallway outside
my classroom
bulldozers create
a master planned
community on the hillside behind us--
a new neighborhood
full of its beautiful houses
and perfect Stepford families. . .

But that's not really your scene,
is it, Brooklyn. Not when
yesterday's xanax still courses through
your blood, and the other drugs
are not as much of a memory
as you'd have me believe.

Tomorrow you will
Pop another pill.
Text another friend.
A year from now, you'll wonder
where the rest of the
happiness went.

So how do I tell you now, in the ten minutes
before you go, that the pounding you hear
in your ears is the rhythm
of loss and pain, yes, but that it's also
the beating of your own living heart?
Where do those words come from,
Brooklyn, when the clock is ticking?

As I speak to you, feeling the
time run out on the chance
I have to share, your mouth is set
in a defiant smirk and your blue eyes
dart furtively like a rabbit's on a freeway
at dusk, but still I try
to tell you there is a light
the burns inside you
and if you have enough faith
that light will save you. And as if by a miracle
I see that somewhere deep within
you there is a small flicker, the tiniest flame
of desire to believe, but trust
is a currency you stopped spending
years ago, though even then
you were only a child, and it's then
you put on a mask
that says you'd rather be anywhere
but here.

So, finally. as my words fly out like
a pet bird whose cage door has been
left open, liberated, but never to be heard from again,
I realize that nothing I say
will make a difference
and that I don't know what else to do
or how else to reach you
so I sign your paper
releasing you from this place
and before I know it,
still another sweet, damaged spirit
that I just couldn't
save is gone.