TRIALS OF THE SEASON

November came in with All Saint’s Day
and Dia de los Muertos.
Remember the dead
how could I ever forget.
Cold air arrived and the plants
were put in the garage until spring.
An end and a beginning.
Coming and going.
The deer fur changed colors 
and the black bear were off to hibernate.
The air even smelled differently.
Are we ever ready for another change
of seasons?
Where we fast forward to Thanksgiving
and another holiday season without you.
Life is like a video game where you 
reach the next level only to be told
to start over again.
The triggers remain the same 
that lead to the blues.
Young adults coming home from college
for break.
Our son would be 21 and a junior in college.
Probably living out of state.
But he isn’t coming home.
Not now or ever.
One empty chair at the dinner table.
One less thing to be thankful for.
The mind is a funny thing.
It swallows us whole if we allow it.

Robert Pegel is a husband and father whose only child, his son Calvin, died in his sleep of unknown causes at age 16.  Robert writes about the human condition and the search for transformation. Robert holds a BA in English from Columbia University. He has been published in Backchannels, Door is a Jar, The Madrigal, Remington Review, Trouvaille Review, Bluepepper, The Galway Review, and others.