A Tale of Two Girards >>>>> The Story Continues >>>>> Part Two

A Tale of Two Girards  >>>>>  The Story Continues  >>>>>  Part Two

                                                                                    Gary Marvin Davison

Degree from Yale in hand,

she stares out the window

of her New Haven apartment,

wondering about the next step: 

off to law school at Harvard,

seems the right sort of thing to do.

 

At her North Minneapolis hovel,

she assesses the natural power

in her brain,

and chafes at its

confinement

to tending

child number three.

 

Graduating from Breck,

The world is full of hope,

many

places to

play his violin,

speak his Chinese,

parlay his perfect score

on the ACT.

 

There he rests in a pauper's grave,

life snuffed out at just eleven:

some say he’s better off in heaven,

for his earthly life

never ascended from

hell.

 

The law?  But why?

She says to no one in particular

on the New Haven streets below.

She likes politics and the verbal

arts better than natural science,

Mom and Dad approve,

and that’s really all she knows.

 

Maybe courses at North Hennepin,

she ponders and opines,

silently,

forlornly,

for she has witnessed so many

failures,

among those harboring

such aspirations,

but lacking 

preparation,

quality education

never imparted by those

mediocre teachers

at

Jenny Lind K-5,

Olson Middle,

North High.   

 

He’s off to Harvard,

quite sure what to expect:

Professor Daddy attended

as an undergraduate,

Doctor Momma obtained

her medical degree

at same.

 

And there he lies,

in a grave graced

only

with weeds---

quite short of Harvard,

bullet still lodged

in his skull,

potential still

unfulfilled,

life partially given,

death come early,

an eternity now to ask

simply,

“Why?”

 

And there we have the

continuing saga

of the

Two Girards---

 

Hope for some,

little for others,

happiness guaranteed

to none.