Sunday, April 3, 2011

PAD Challenge Day 3 The World Without You

If I Never Existed

my dad would have gotten
more squirrels and rabbits
the hunting season of ’58.
My mom, without a fourth child,
would have had more time to paint,
and when the surprise baby came
nine years later, instead of six, Mom
would have been even more surprised.
The Shannon family would have fit
around the kitchen table better.

My sisters would have fought less,
mowed more grass, had less fun,
and would have wondered why
no one in the family had brown eyes
like my mother. They would have
never known the thumping on the porch
was a beagle on a rocking chair
because they were too scared to go out.
And they would have missed laughing
at me being afraid of the “Muffler Dragon.”

Four sisters would have one less life-long friend.
The littlest would have had no one to spy on
and no opportunity to steal a diary.
A guy or two’s first kisses would be delayed,
there’d be 2,500 less poems written, and
at least two people would probably be dead
if I hadn’t prayed. A Cheyenne man would
have been bored the summer of ’77. But worst
of all Lori and Eli wouldn’t exist which means
less laughter, intelligence, and TLC in the world.

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