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I stand before a graveyard stone
and try to imagine success.
You know the kind –
where generals fail but privates triumph.
I repeat
for the sake of the conscience
grinding in my thoughts —
success is cold and it's fragile,
can strike against you
if the ones like me don't live up to it.
You, father,
imagine success in the world
where no one else
is buried here,
a bullet in one leg,
a pin in the other,
a mustached soldier
fifty years to the good
of carrying his babies.
John Grey is an Australian poet, US resident, recently published in Orbis, Dalhousie Review and Connecticut River Review. His latest books, “Leaves On Pages” and “Memory Outside The Head” are available through Amazon.

John Grey
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