Not Forever

in memory of
Dana Lynn Jeanette
1967-1986

I had forgotten

I've heard it said
that one person
out of every high school graduating class
dies
within a year after graduation

I had forgotten
until I heard the news

It was through a friend
who had recognized your name
but she hadn't been sure about the facts

Two people were injured badly
and rushed to the hospital,
but someone else had died instantly
from a crushed skull after being thrown from the car

I barely slept all through the night
praying that it hadn't been you
that had died there on the side of the road

But my prayers were too late,
the morning paper announced my fears
It was all there, on the very front page,
your colorful life was now just black and white

It was just nine days short of a year since graduation,
a day when all our hopes and dreams were alive
but your hopes and dreams soon died
as if they were the flowers
that had filled the funeral home

I remember the meetings we attended
fighting to start a S.A.D.D. chapter in our school
but the morning paper said that it had been a drunk driver
who lost control and struck your car which slid sideways
down a hill to be struck by an oncoming car

I see someone who looks so much like you
and memories flash through my mind

• your crooked smile
• working on the yearbook together
• watching you perform color guard routines at pep rallies and football games
• being mediator between two arguing friends
• whispering secrets during homeroom
• copying algebra problems at the last minute
• singing off key in the 8th grade chorus
• giving me advice when I was depressed

so full of life then and now so empty

In the yearbook you said your future plans were to go to school, get a job, get married and live happily ever after, only your happily ever after wasn't forever.

Copyright © 1986 by
Shawn Murray