Forgetting Clare
By C. E. Laine

Who will love a little Sparrow?
Will no one write her eulogy?
"I will," said the Earth,
"For all I've created returns unto me,
From dust were ye made and dust ye shall be."
- Paul Simon

Sometimes death is not as lonely
as the grief of a father
who buries a tiny casket
beneath volumes of dirt-

forgotten like a sack of groceries,
one Tuesday, her mother found her-
a lifeless raisin on a hot June afternoon
in the back of their mini-van.

Now she washes
the fresh grave with tears
because God sprinkled salt
on this little sparrow’s tail.

A brief bio follows: C. E. Laine is a web designer and freelance writer. She's been a baker, a magician's assistant, an artist in New Orleans' Jackson Square, and is currently a student pilot. Her publications include Poems Niederngasse, New World Poetry, Free Zone Quarterly, Poetry Super Highway, Countless Horizons, The White Shoe Irregular, Friction Magazine, 2River View, Kota Press, Absinthe, Stirring (writing as Kit Sullivan), The White Shoe Irregular, Clean Sheets, Erosha, Beauty for Ashes, Ludlow Press, Pierian Springs and Thunder Sandwich. Her first book of poetry (allegory) will be released this spring. Celaine.com is her website.