Once

• Ashleigh Basham , Grade 10
• Poetry
• 2014

Did you laugh once? Smile?
Perhaps.
But I have not seen the whiteness of your teeth
Shine for years.

Did I once know your warmth?
Burning on my skin like a flame
Did your cheeks blush red
Like the roses that still bloom from your windowsill?

Did you skin truly hold the pale creamy colour
Of fresh, warm milk?
Or has it always been jaundice and waxy
like the paper your hand scrawled the note to me on?

Why did you give up the cool fresh air
The stars in the night sky?
To be buried six-feet-under
Where they cannot reach you?