My thumb brushed across
Your wrinkled arm
Back and forth
Over and over again
I gave a light squeeze
Our Father who art
We prayed
We cried and laughed
We caught up
We gathered in close
Hovering above your frail
Body like clouds floating
Above a funeral
We rained tears on your
Time-worn skin
You never once opened your eyes
But your presence filled the air
Until it didn’t anymore
The world fell still as ashes
I kept looking at your chest
I wondered when you would
Take another breath and
Shock us with a perfect return
You fought as long as possible
Everyone deserves the end you met
Peaceful, surrounded by an
Impossible amount of love
So much love
“My best friend”
I’d never seen him cry so
Hard, and that’s what broke me
I have never cried so silently in
All my life
Tears slipped and slide
Down the corners of my face
Collecting in the crevices of
My mouth, sadness is a taste
I will never become accustomed to.
Now you are gone
I felt the heat slowly drip
Out of your quarter-sized wrists
Everyone thinks the color of death
Is an ashen gray, but really
It’s a sad shade of yellow
I couldn’t rip my eyes away
From you, one of the most
Beautiful women in my life
You’re still beautiful
What kills me
Is that I am still breathing
While you no longer
Have that luxury.
Love for you still
Fills my shrinking heart
No matter how the world
Warps me, you will
Always, always live
On in the memories
Of pure beauty that we
Share. You haven’t left
Without leaving your mark
Stitched into this world.
Your hands were always warm
And mine cold.
I watched you take
Your last breath
And I will hold that
Breath until the day
I take mine.
AcuteAnimosity 