Cemetery Silence by Michael Keshigian

He stood in front of the headstone

marking his father’s grave

under a maple tree

that shaded the parcel

reserved for his mother.

“I found that twenty

you sent me,” he whispered,

“found it in the leaves

next to the curb during my run

the day after

we moved you here.

In disbelief, I asked for a sign

and you dropped a twenty on me

along the curbstone on my route.

I knew it was you,

all the serial numbers 

matched your birth and departure dates,

never mind the letters, all T, S, & K.”

He concluded the one-sided conversation,

hoping for another sign,

but all that followed was a long silence,

one that encompassed all the gravestones

and the rows of dead they marked.

He kneeled, got closer to the granite slab,

pressed an ear against it

as if to block the deafening quiet

that enveloped his surroundings.

Still nothing, cemetery silence,

the most disarming silence of all,

so silent, he could hear the still air breathe.

Michael Keshigian from New Hampshire, had his twelfth poetry collection, Into The Light, released in April, 2017 by Flutter Press. He has been published in numerous national and international journals recently including The California Quarterly, Red River Review, Tipton Poetry Journal, Aji Magazine and has appeared as feature writer in over twenty publications with 6 Pushcart Prize and 2 Best Of The Net nominations. (michaelkeshigian.com)