A tribute for my uncle, and everyone else who has lost someone they love to sudden death.
In the smallest of
Instants, everything changes.
How can you be here
Then – not – so quickly?
How can this be happening?
Just last night, we were
Laughing about something
Silly – I can’t remember
What. Or why. Or who.
Your image – so still,
So quiet. So dead – blots out
Everything. The sun
Is faded. Food has
No taste. Others’ voices sound
Like insects buzzing.
The only thing matters
Is that you’re no longer here.
My world is empty
Without you in it.
If you could just come back, just
For an afternoon.
Or even a few hours
One hour, ten minutes. Even
Just to say goodbye?
Even that? I would tell
You so much. You were my life.
Love, yes, but it is
So much more than that.
You are engrafted in my
Bones, your face is etched
On my heart. We grew
Together, like two young trees.
Now one is fallen.
The other bleeds and weeps.
The world is empty without
You in it. Bleak. Stark.
Impossible. One
Day, my memories of you
May comfort; now they
Only remind me
That I am still here and you
Lucky you! – are not.
I always thought we would
Have more time. It wasn’t enough.
Never enough. Of course,
A thousand years would
Not have been. Or I would go
First. Wrong there as well.
I will miss you forever.
As long as I breathe
Will I miss your presence, your
Soul, your laugh, your self.
Beloved.
Wait for me
RIP.