Anticipatory Grief
by Jack Haas

Feels like an act of betrayal
of letting go of one
who is still very much alive
My son in Iraq
and brief phone calls home
I’m fine. I’m O.K.

Terror is not a war
it is the present spectre
always over my shoulder
of two men in uniform
with the impossible news
He’s gone. He’s gone.

Too many time in one day
I prepare for what cannot be
I pray for the blessing
selfishly from a father’s heart
keep him safe from all harm
He is mine. He is yours.

The Rev. N. Jackson Haas
Cpl, USMC, 1973-1976