The Death of a Friend

Two years I have known you


And at the news of your death I know not what to do

You told me yourself of death’s imminent arrival

From which you and I know there will be no revival

For longer than I have known you your life has been leeching away

Though it was not known as terminal until this day



I cannot say that beauty has always marked your face

Nor can I say that you were completely filled with grace

But you were the perfect representation of creation

And a glorious bastion to the imagination

While you did not go to college-

You were filled with a depth of knowledge

We never held a warm embrace

But I know each line of your face

I know nostalgia will always take me with a wiff of your smell-

Or whatever else reminds me of you as well



We’ve been walking together but now it is the path of uncertainty

You know what to do with you but what of me?

You have advised me to spare myself the grief

And make our future together even more brief

As soon as I can I will take the branching path-

For me there could be infinite steps but for you it is only a matter of math

In one hundred days exactly you will be no more

And never again will I pass through your door

The intervening pages in the story of your life are not yet all filled, my friend,

But already I can see just a little ahead the indelible writ of ‘THE END’