A Final Thought

I do not think that anything I create can adequately memorialize the victims of swine and avian flu. The previous mini-memorials are an attempt to do so through information specific to the Kocyigit family, Conner Woodruff, and Mitchell Wiener. However, the valuable thing that I, personally, can contribute is a short poem . I have included poems about death, remembrance, and memorial after each victims’ mini-memorial, but I feel it is necessary to also include one for victims in general.  I chose to make the style of the poem more free in style than rigid because someone’s thoughts do not have a form. In addition, I chose to write about a garden because gardens are usually places of reflection, calm, and remembrance. However, this poem mirrors a storm beginning, destroying, and leaving a garden. It is supposed to also mirror the emergence of an illness with signs of the illness first, then what is left, and finally the moving on. Also, I chose to reference another person, other than the weaker, in the first four lines as the victim prior to the illness and then the person’s memory of the victim before moving on. The poem is meant to bring hope to those left behind by victims as it ends with new signs of life and the idea of something still remaining after the storm, simply different.

The Garden by Laurel Easterling

The wind pushed and pulled, the leaves moved and exposed your hiding place.

The wind pushed and pulled, the trees creaked and snapped above you.

The rain made it go, the path washed clear of yesterday’s play.

The rain made it go, the petals of your tulips beaten into the ground.

The dew appears, the rabbits drink from leaves collecting.

The dew appears, the birds dry their feathers.

The garden emerges once again.