Child's Song

A child falls
then bleeds,
stumbles and bleeds.

She bleeds and bleeds.

What do we do

when we fall?

"Get back up, Papa!"

A thousand cuts
will follow her
into adulthood.

A child farts

then laughs,
belches and laughs.

She laughs and laughs.

Where do you 

feel it?

"In my belly, Papa!"

She laughs

until

I'm laughing too.

A child mourns

then cries,

questions and cries.

She cries and cries.

Why the ambulance, Papa?

"For the neighbor, Buddy."

Before the siren fades,

she's chasing butterflies

through the yard.

So play the song

that she may sing,

play it 

'til the fingers bleed.

Strike up the band.

She sings and sings.

"Play it again, Papa!"

A child's song
celebrates
the living thing.

Corpses

 

            Outside Kuwait City (1991)

We came upon them mid-day,

in a rush for shelter from the petrol rain: 

        three corpses upright 

        in an armored personnel carrier,

        as crisp as dime-store cigars;

        their boots melted into the floorboard.

Oil fires illuminated a blast zone 

surrounding the vehicle,

casting a perverse half-light

over the living and dead.

Some Marines took pictures

with the corpses,

souvenirs for the living back home.

We cracked jokes

to steady our nerves.

I kept watch 

through the scorched, steel turret

frightened less by the dead

than the unseen.

Grandfather came to mind,

lying embalmed in a casket

in Enid, Oklahoma.

I was sixteen when he died.

The mortician overdid 

Grandpa's makeup,

which cracked like desert topsoil 

at his hairline.

I half-expected him to rise up

and scold the adults

for displaying him that way.

Someone passed around

the photographs.

The laughter stopped.

Thunder from approaching artillery

rattled our reprieve.

We shouldered our packs

and stepped into the poison rain.

A boot private

from Encinitas, California,

glanced back

as a helmet

tumbled from the carrier.

"Sucks to be them," he said. 

**First published in As You Were literary magazine

and second-place winner of the 2023 Col. Darren L. Wright Memorial Writing Awards.

**Illustration by Morgane Xenos

Thomas Gregory Lambert (1942 - 2021)

Thomas Gregory (Greg) Lambert, 78, passed away on March 22, 2021 surrounded by family at his home in Shawnee, Kansas.

Greg was born December 10, 1942 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, the second of three sons to Clifford and Estelle Lambert.  As a youth, Greg was an accomplished student and amateur golfer, graduating valedictorian from Northeast High School and winning numerous golf titles including Oklahoma State Junior Champion.

Greg attended Oklahoma State University on academic and golf scholarships where he graduated a member of the Dean’s Honor Roll with a bachelor’s degree in Business Administration.

Upon completing his formal education, Greg secured a Professional Golfers Association card and worked many years as both a tour and club professional.  He moved to Kansas City, Kansas in 1965 and took an Assistant Pro position at Milburn Country Club where he met Linda Sue Dillman while she attended an office picnic on the club grounds.

Greg and Linda were married fifty-two years and raised seven children together.  In 1975, Greg left the golf profession to start a family-run merchandising business, Kings Kid Company.  He and Linda, often with the help of their children, maintained Kings Kid Co. until Greg’s death.

Greg was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, a kind man with a generous heart and love of laughter.  His devotion to his family was rooted in his passion for the gospel of Jesus Christ.  In Greg’s spare time, he enjoyed working with church groups, leading homegroup fellowships, and preaching the gospel to anyone who would listen.  He participated in prison ministry programs for many years counseling the incarcerated on matters of life, love and faith.

Greg will be missed by all of us who knew him and recall fondly his favorite parting words:  “Walk with the King and be a blessing”.

He was preceded in death by his father and mother and is survived by his brothers, Doug (79) and Roger (75), his wife, Linda (73), and their seven children, Lance (50), Chad (49), Julie (48), Amy (46), Christie (45), Anna (40), and Poss (37).

A celebration of Greg’s life will be held on April 30th at LifeMission Church chapel, 16111 South Lone Elm Road in Olathe, Kansas.  Visitation will begin at 10:30AM with a memorial service immediately following at 11:30.  Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, masks and social distancing are required.

The family greatly appreciates your well wishes and gestures of support.  In lieu of flowers and donations, we invite contributions to the Alzheimer’s Foundation of America: https://alzfdn.org/.