An Elegy for Nicky Keller

I remember how the booming,
bright, and brilliant bursts

of color hurt your eyes. We layed
in the prickly grass of the

crowded park, looking at the sky.
I remember how you didn’t

know of the growing death in
your body, and life was

like a flower in a sunny meadow.
I remember your bright, yellow

petals, never falling in the cold
of winter, and your glowing

leaves in the warmth of day.

I remember the first day your
petals fell. After the color

left the sky, and before the branches
became clean and bare.

Your leaves drooped, and the warmth
was sucked out of your

thriving heart. I still watch the
erupting purples, and

yellows in the night sky, and I
will forever feel the

grass of the meadow on my skin.


Bowie High School

12