Superstition

I've never been a fan of red:
I can't erase a distant memory
of a friend's dear child
walking on the beach
and finding a bit of beach glass
-- brilliant red --
and how jealous I was
that she had spotted it first.
It wasn't so long after that
that cancer took her from us;
I wondered then, if I had seen it first,
she might have had a longer fuller life...
So when you found
another bit of glass upon my beach
-- so clear, so round, and streaked with red --
I found myself selfishly glad this time
I hadn't seen it first --
not that I wish any harm on you;
it's just that I don't trust
this pattern not to re-occur.
I'll never be a fan of red, I fear.


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