This is a Sound You Never Thought You’d Learn

 

This is a sound

you never thought

you’d learn, a sound

your mother did not

anticipate.  She watched

your infant head lift

to follow the chirp

of birds, the sudden voices

on tv, the heavy steps

of your father’s glossy

shoes, on his way

to work.  She never thought

you would learn the sound

of a skull encased

in fragile flesh, slamming

into concrete.  Never

thought you’d hear it

from the inside.

 

*****