In their youth they’d been eleven
come along in quick succession
One lost his way
on birthing day
A short trip from the heavens
Another tripped and hit her head
before her first words could be said
Her smile bright
yet face turned white
gone the sound of her soft tread
One boy did not stop to listen
youthful mind upon a mission
too far he swam
could not reach land
Later found by men out fishing
No medicine could cure a growth
written in one’s doctor’s notes
He fought so hard
his features marred
Was buried in a collared coat
Number five, a lovely woman
always was a friendly flirting
She passed along
with a sweet song
her memory uncertain
The only one to find a love
believed that passion was enough
She did not share
how much he cared
Deathly drops within his mug
Another coughed away her youth
though some still claim her mind astute
She tasted snow
found her old foe
sickness once more taking root
This one strayed to zones of war
where bullets whizzed to flesh they tore
His letters home
those well-read tomes
one day ceased their constant flow
This other fled to city life
where crime and passion bred new strifes
Her art imbued
an awful feud
with fuel that ended with a knife
The tenth achieved a high degree
that could not supplant pedigree
Her life she claimed
in heights of fame
sparking great controversy
He worked his fingers to the bone
without a house to call his own
and wondered why
the stars he spied
glittered spritely when alone
In their youth they’d been eleven
come and gone in quick succession
the gods connived
to cull their lives
stopping a bloodline’s doomed ascension
Emmi Lawrence 