Richard Schnap’s most recent poem to appear here was “After the Thaw” (December 2014)

Mercy
By Richard Schnap

I place your picture on the wall
The one I took that spring day
Beneath the magnolia tree next door
Its blossoms radiant in the bright sun

You were wearing the shirt I bought you
Black with embroidered stars
The one you said made you feel
Like a constellation in the corner of the sky

Now I look at it and remember
How happy I was in those days
Before the pale rider came to take you
To a nameless place I could not find

But as I gaze at you beneath the tree
Your voice seems to echo in the silent night
As if some spirit takes note of my tears
And allows a brief moment to touch you again