For Kevin Carlos Ramirez
in Memoriam 

Tow-truck driver, on-call, nights,
Heads out to the heavy snow
(The stricken town has lost its lights:
The streets a featureless tableau)
To 96's snow-bound curves:
Where mother and her little child
(Much like his own, his mind observes)
Are stuck in ice and whistling wild.

A cheerful grin dispels their fright.
He finds the axle, clips the hook.
Above, a tree hangs in the night
The busy driver does not look...
As thyself, so love thy neighbor!
Fast it falls, as cut by knife
Crashes through his earnest labor,
Taking tow-truck driver's life.

A senseless tragedy, a zero
Some say, who for meaning seek;
But Death illuminates this Hero:
Honor springs from Willow Creek.

Ellen Taylor