TEAR DROP

for Baldemar Garza Huerta

I knew he was sick for a while, but it
still comes as a shock to hear of someone’s
passing when they’d been in your life so long.
Like a friend from your childhood or a classmate.
No, more like an old Uncle that you watched age
before your eyes, getting gray, heavy, moving slow.
And of course I won’t forget that day in Sam Goody,
a wise ass salesman couldn’t resist saying-
You want what? Nobody still listens to that!
And when I sat in my living room that afternoon
blasting Wasted Days and Wasted Nights, I sang along
and raised my fist in remembrance of the good times.
But you know I couldn’t help crying when I heard the
first few twangy notes, the nasal sounding syllables-
“and I’ll be there before the next tear drop falls”.