a suicide

a high school student

hanged himself from

a tree just beyond my

folks' backyard a

few years ago

I heard a few different

stories about school

problems and in trouble

and so on

he was from the same

high school I had

started out from

a non-coed

Catholic stuffy

anachronistic

and slightly

evil sort of

affair

most of the teachers

and students

believed their

own press

but that tree

just stands there

and I stare at it

when I walk past

some good souls

planted a little group

of flowers up the path

a bit and there is

a little understated

stone plaque they had

done in front that says

'To Our Friend,'

and the boy's

name