Outsider

I wrote this for a contest entry when I was in junior high school. It didn't have a lot of meaning to me then, but it was something I cared about. Three years later, my sister and her husband were hit by a drunk driver. My sister lost her leg and my brother-in-law nearly lost his life. I revised this poem then and it is now dedicated to my sister, Donna.

Outsider

She was the outsider.
She was the one who was not invited to the parties.
She was the one whom they always called when they needed something.
She was the one who always gave.

The lone mother looked forward.
The closed casket stared back at her.

She died for them.
She died because of them.
She died because she cared about them.
She cared about them when they did not care about her.

A solitary breeze made the church's occupants shiver.
Silence still prevailed.

She gave her life for them.
She made sure that they got home safe.
She made sure that they didn't drive home drunk.
She spent two years keeping them alive.

The lone mother ran her hand over the closed casket.
One by one each person filed by, not really looking, not really caring, because she was the outsider.

She picked them up from a party that she was not invited to.
She tried to get him to come with her but he refused, he could drive himself.
She was careful.
She drove the speed limit.

No one said anything.
Words were not spoken for the outsider.

She saw the other car coming.
She tried to get out of the way.
It came too fast.
And now, they're here today.

He was the last.
He was the only one who spoke to the outsider.

The sound of crushing metal.
The sight of blood.
The sound of screams.
The sight of death.

He placed his hand on the cool marble casket, a white rose in his hand.
He leaned down and quietly he said.

Sirens wailed in the distance.
He stumbled out of his car.
The police came.
"They're dead son," the officer told him.

"I'm sorry." He stood up straight and closed his eyes. "Tomorrow, they will forget you, but I never will."
He placed the rose on the casket and walked out of the church.