Richard Lackman Poems

I woke up from the surgery minus my left leg
With searing pain below my hip as if a powder keg
Exploded deep within my thigh leaving nothing there
But tissues sewn together which was more that I could bear
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When I was just a little child playing in my room
I saw the sudden lightning strike and heard the thunder boom
I'd run out to the front porch to sit and watch the show
Awed by Mother Nature and the power that would go
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Today I met a man who thought that he was truly dying
This brush with his mortality had left him lost and crying
He never really understood how fragile life can be
And now his hopes and desperation focused square on me
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What is it about a pond or lake or ocean
That attracts us so and sets in motion
Feelings of serenity and peace
So that common worries seem to cease
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I thought again today about a friend from long ago
He was a lovely person and at times I miss him so
Mike Fallon was his name and him I never will forget
His young life ended suddenly, for me with much regret
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Each day as I go out I see the tree in my backyard
I think it is a pin oak and its wood is very hard
The tree was here when I moved in about 10 years ago
Since then it got much larger with new branches that did grow
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From March back through November landscapes draped in black and white
As knife-like shadows in the forests pierced the dimming light
And even mighty rivers disappeared under the strain
Of crushing flows of ice after a night of freezing rain
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I spied him on a park bench, my how happy he did seem
As contented as a sleeping man within a pleasant dream
So full of equanimity, so tranquil and refined
Obviously no distress disturbed his state of mind
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Mankind is a mystery and I don't understand
Whether we are here by chance or guided by God's hand
There is so much good about us it could clearly fill a book
And yet to see the darker side you merely have to look
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I am trying hard to understand
Why God placed us here in such a state
Still I am afraid to reprimand
Him who put me here and tempt my fate
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