I saw a story on the evening news about a woman getting killed by a drunk driver on the way to work. The stupidity of the whole thing kind of pissed me off, so I just sat down and wrote this. I also have a recording of this with some background music Aaron Whiting wrote on the T&A website.
Minor Injuries
penned 04.20.2001 by tyler butler
She looks at him with those green, tearless eyes.
Eyes that remind him too much of her mother.
Eyes that search his face curiously
for a hint of what he's going to say.
He touches her shoulder,
so small and fragile in his hand.
He struggles to stifle tears that
long to pour forth.
He begins, slowly at first.
He tells his daughter of her mother.
How they met,
what their wedding cake looked like,
and of their honeymoon,
where a new life was formed.
The five-year-old listens quietly,
and a mysterious solemnity falls over the room.
Suddenly the dam bursts,
he hugs her close,
and amongst sobs tells her that
her mother won't be coming home that day.
He's suddenly reminded
that if it weren't for the chicken pox,
he might have lost a daughter, too.
He feels sudden joy,
washed away by the wave of empty pain.
The inevitable question is asked.
How? Why? When? Who?
All wrapped into one.
It hits him again the absurdity of the situation.
A man, driving drunk at 7:30 on a
quiet Wednesday morning,
sent to the hospital with
minor injuries.