Visiting the Grave of a Friend In an old churchyard cemetery In an air of chilled winter breeze The world is white with snow Upon the ground and in the trees. The snow caps the monuments That surround me in a maze And shields me from the mundane As the sacred centers my gaze. I came here from far away To visit the grave of a friend Who left this world all too soon For the lasting embrace of this life’s end. I came to spend some time with him And to feel his presence once more Though it is not like back home Where together we spent time of yore. Like all he was first born from his mother, From the nurturing warmth of a loving womb, But he was then born to another life; His body resting within the earth’s tomb. For the earth took back his body And heaven took back his soul And my friend was taken from me Diminishing what was once whole. And looking down at the cold, hard stone Planted in the soil where he is interred I stare at his name on this monument And I say these pitiful words: “I came here as one But I come here as many; Those who knew you and loved you, Whose lives have continued Into the mid-day horizon While your night is as black As your many stars are bright. I will never forget you, my friend, As I will always treasure our friendship And I will tell your story. For you were twenty And that was twenty years ago And now I am forty And you are still twenty. And in forty years I will be eighty And you will still be twenty. You were my friend. You were my brother. And in so many ways You were me and I was you. I will never forget you, my friend; Never.” And looking down at the cold, hard stone Every letter of his name focused in my eyes My mind journeys through many memories of youth As I welcome the warm tears I cry. But I awaken after my distant thought From the chilling waft as the sun sinks low And I give the stone a final touch. It is time for me to go. So I leave this old churchyard cemetery And I doubt if I will ever return again For I have traveled very far through land and life To visit the grave of a friend.
Posted on: Wed, 26 Jun 2013 02:35:30 +0000
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