Too Soon

Though the mirror shows a different you
this is the only you I have known
a child filling blank pages
with reflections of a yesterday so distant

Maybe I knew you once
when my rage was angrier and more innocent
Maybe you were the man
who held my shoulder firm and told me
to “find your way home young man”

Maybe I knew you once in grave sickness
from within the light
while I watched heavy rain obscure the sun
just outside my window
beyond my skin and bone

Your voyage is on
the same unsteady sea
and I have explored your
tempest-tossed eyes
graceful passageways
and I am thankful
for their light
for now I can see
I have touched your hands
they have led me to this place
far from October’s emptiness
A town I once lived in
but now simply pass through
from time to time

I hear your music
and I am sorry
that it has passed
through the trees unnoticed
Guitar strings make such beautiful noise
with lyrics of a life somehow missed
on a soft bed of purple flowers, I recall

My tears flow genuine
As my pain is eased with generosity
sharing hurtfulness like a dirty needle
My life is pressed hard against a very high wall
and I cannot see beyond it
but you lower a ladder with your weakened arms
and smile, unsure, with great confidence

My climb up is difficult
my pride is calloused
as I am no longer a world unto myself
up here with the wind
and the angels
and the chorus singing of hope
on this rooftop overlooking Heaven

‘Cause death was once romantic, no longer

It will come too soon, regardless
in the cold of night, in my warm bed
It will come too soon, anyhow
my final breath, my final moment in this place
And I will look at you last
so I will know goodness as I die
It will come too soon
until then
we are friends