Passing
Every other time I reached for you, you were there.
Miles may have separated us and moments
May have stacked up like crowds for a sold-out concert.
Yet, sooner or later, our paths would always wind back together
And we would tangle one another in the stories of our adventures
And fantasies taking root in the psyche.
But this time it’s different – the hole carved by time and distance
Will never be filled by anything but emptiness,
And however I may line the perimeter of the hole with memories,
Your death pushes away the soil,
Stops the surface from obscuring who you were becoming
The day that time suddenly stopped.
You have become one with eternity, my brother,
One grain of sand along the infinite coastline,
And one day I will join you –
But not now.
I must endure the journey along a path
That continues to flutter in the sky above the hole
That will never be filled, or bridged, or made any better
By time, change or circumstances.
Dana White
For my brother, Todd
10.28.2020