We the Living

We the living honor you, the dead,
who came before, long or shortly gone,
who tried your best
in the time allowed
in the way you were able.
We appreciate your life, your work,
your failures and successes
your suffering and joy
in the time you lived
in the best way you knew.
We admire you for
your hard work done well,
your struggle to do right
in the time given
in the place you were.
And we respect the way you
faced the diminishing sense of value
faced the closing of the light
in the final time allotted
in the lonely way you did.

J. B. Hogan is a poet, fiction writer, and local historian. He has been published in a number of journals including the Blue Lake Review, Crack the Spine, Copperfield Review, Lothlorien Poetry Journal, Well Read Magazine, and Aphelion. His twelve books include Bar Harbor, Mexican Skies, Living Behind Time, Losing Cotton, The Apostate and, most recently, Forgotten Fayetteville and Washington County (local history). He lives in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Find more by J. B. Hogan in the Author Index.