Teardrop

 

A

teardrop

for each life lost

a broken heart for friends,

a sadness that never goes away

but gnaws at nerves and silent moments

 the desolate times of memory cast hurt shadows

dancing on the twilight walls at the edge of your vision

a friend’s laughter that bonded like mortar holds together bricks

 those happy tears can also flow in torrents in a recollection waterfall

until the hurting goes away replaced by thoughts for good times that we had

never let the pain and hurt replace the friendship in your caring chasm of a heart

those memories should bring you happiness for what you now have not what you lost

in death beds and hospital rooms that distorted your view on what friendship meant

those who have gone would not want your grief to replace songs or that warm feeling

of basking in summer sun sharing cold cider and counting blessings by the lazy seaside

they would not want the chill of this antiseptic place to make your heart cold and hard

to make the casting of memories hurtful when you let your guard down and go there

they would only wish you well and be the same peaceful person who shared lives

staggered with a pint in hand and sang songs of hope, revolution and freedom

who wrote poems about the craziness of existence and the common man

he would want me to remember him in quiet contemplation

with a smile on my face and a song in my heart

he would not want these tears