Reaching to the Horizon by Richard Levine

 I hated you Legless Billy,
and the way your prairie family
and fiancée looked at me, that flat stillness of the plains
reaching to the horizon from
every window and across
the dining room table, when
I described how you saved my life. We all hated you, Billy,
sitting there in your gleaming
wheelchair and spotted bib. It’s only now, in midnight
calls from mid-life that I hear
in your voice how we are
bound to that screaming red flare
lighting all we will never again own.
 ________________
Richard Levine served with 3rd Tanks, 3rd Marines in 1968. A retired New York City school teacher, he is the author of numerous poetry collections including Snapshots from a Battle (Headwaters Press). His poems have appeared in many journals  including, Comstock Review, Cutthroat, Lucid Stone; Many Mountains Moving; and Medicinal Purposes. His numerous literary awards include first prize, Eratica – Discovery/The Nation Poetry Competition.  Visit Richard’s  website to see more of his poetry.