One Year's Decay

I remember the horrible whine
Of the sirens outside my window,
When the paramedics came to take her away.
When my baby brother asked where Mommy was,
I couldn't answer.
I remember the way she looked
At me only weeks before,
Like I was a filthy parasite
Eating away at her very flesh and blood.
She told me later it was my fault, that I put her there.
I don't know why I ever believed her.

I also remember the babies,
Poor Tyler, merely months my cousin,
His last breath stolen in the night.
He will never utter another cry,
Or sit and play for hours with me,
The innocence in his smile casting a ray of light.
And Shadow, our ten month puppy,
With shattered skull and pools of blood.
The crimson still stains our asphalt,
Replaying the moment of the crash over,
The poor boy convulsing on the ground, eyes rolling back.

And of course, there is grandfather.
The fall started everything, with its blood stained stairs
And seven stitches in his metal plated head.
Then the stroke, the drooping eyes and sagging skin,
Permanent deep circles beneath brown eyes.
The ulcer then, crimson flooding out until another fall ensued.
He acts so strangely now, air headed and constantly forgetful,
He will never be the man I knew again,
Never the same.