Description: This poem is based on a true incident: In 1964, a young airman was murdered in the San Bernardino Mountains of California. His remains were not found for several months.
His assailant(s)was never apprehended.
To Die Alone
Off a lonely mountain top,
he stumbles and falls,
bleeding, bleeding,
in a pleading voice he calls.
In blinding pain, down,
down into the ravine,
he stumbles again.
The cawing of a single
raven breaks the silence
of this untold sin.
As the mid-day sun,
scorches and sears
his flesh, he weakly
struggles to draft
his last breath.
Death invoked by
a crushing blow
to his head.
Murdered by an
unknown and left…
to die alone.
Washed away by
the spring melt,
bleached bones,
this unholy secret
will someday tell.