constructing poetry

to Caleb, again

since that day,
I spend my every April
contemplating might-have-beens.

you would have been four
this year. you would have
snuggled under my heart
for long moments
before abandoning me
to play cars
to watch cartoons
to slip unseen into the kitchen
and pour dishwashing liquid
across the floor.

you would have sat there,
looked up with gleeful eyes
because you knew it was
forbidden, and I would try
not to laugh
as I cleaned up you
and the floor.

you would have picked
your favorite book,
pretending to read to me
with your little finger
tracking memorized lines,
and I would smell
the soap in your hair
and wonder how your feet
had caught so much dirt already.

you would have chosen friends
and opened gifts
and the house would have rang
with the sounds of little children.

instead, I blow out four candles
with thirty-nine year lungs,
and sing for you,
hoping the echoes reach
where you have gone.

Prompt: 15 April 2016 ▼

Subject or Theme: Birthdays! (Today is mine) Write about any memorable birthday; it can be for you or someone else.
Word(s) to Include: forbidden, (include the age you were in your poem) (or any derivatives of these words)
Forbidden Word(s): balloons, birthday, cake, celebration, party (or any derivatives, compound or hyphenations of these words)
Additional Parameters: 24 lines minimum
Remember, do not use forbidden words ANYWHERE, including title or the brief description.