For Those Gone Too Soon
by Linda M. Rhinehart Neas
The mind searches –
Within the mind palace -
What were the last words spoken?
Your laugh, your smile
Echoes through rooms and halls
Long lost and barely remembered.
The news came shockingly –
A happened upon obit,
A message from someone you knew,
A call from a mutual friend.
The particulars of how, why, when
Carry little weight –
What matters is that you are gone.
Time, the thief, stole you from now,
Never allowing for a proper goodbye –
Oh the things left unsaid!
Those left behind,
On learning that you now live
In days gone by - among foggy dreams
Where the sun always shines –
Pain has ceased its incessant knowing –
Where youth and beauty reign,
Are numbed by the realization that -
No longer will you call -
No longer will you hold their hand -
No longer will you be there.
Those left behind
May gather to share sorrow,
May find time to stop – to remember
When life seemed eternal
And friends had infinite time
To say, “I love you.”
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