One sonuvabitch cold day in August

One sonuvabitch cold day in August.

It was about the day
after when,
(my grandpa having just died)
I was going to school, and had to
notify the teachers
and principal
why I was going to miss the next
couple of days of school.

Through those suspicious looks,
why that Leif kid is always up to
something.

But not this time.

And the kids, looking at me with
disdain, not for any
other reason, outside of sheer
hatred.
Asked me why…why
I couldn’t have died instead.
and I really didn’t have an answer,
or reason,
or any desire to fight back.
I just looked at them through glazed
eyes and went to class.