Of Love and Death and Loss

 

my sweetest friend has lost 3

men like dominoes not caring

they follow each other in quick

succession away from her

first to go a homeless brother who’s

been lost a lifetime this time

lost his hold

though deeply loved

a gay cousin she adores she’s so

surprised he could be gone

an ex who haunts her dreams

for her two children gone to

the finality of death and yet

though she is stung from heart

to head and lungs

i hear you here there is no end

you say you’re

calling out to Lazarus or

rising from the dead yourself

perhaps like Rumi glad to go

or maybe just laughing from

a spot we fail to see you in

our loved ones sewn into

our eternal being blankets

all the while dancing

to the rhythm of another beat.