Tribute to a Best Friend

--a poem to accompany an album

When I think about you and all of our time
I crawl inside myself and just cry.
I think of your eyes, and the light that once shined,
I think of our friendship, gentle and kind.
I think of your ears, and how they made your expression.
I think of how you followed me, loved me blindly -- no question.
I think about you, and I think about me
How life will never again be what it should be.

And I try to cry myself to sleep, but instead
I weep
all night long.
The dawn breaks red without you here,
And I've cried the whole night -- No sleep.

I know you're not in pain, and I know you're better off,
But how am I supposed to survive
This Way?
I am a broken, fractured, shattered shell.
I strive for no hope, and I live for no hell.

But as I lay here I can feel the trickle of tears.
They roll 'round my cheeks, and they land in my ears.
And the sun brightens the room even through the curtain.
And I know-

-there's no doubt-

-this one thing-

-I am certain.

That You are my constant. With you there's no change.
I loved you, you loved me, forever. Always the same.

And I die still a bit when I think about you.
Because I know so well that you loved me too.

I could tell by your manner, comfortable and wise,
And as you lay dying I could see it in your eyes.
I could see it in the way you looked lovingly at me, although blind.

I could feel it in the weight of your head in my hands.
And as I watched your hourglass run low on sand

I knew it so purely
like the density of stone
I loved you.
You loved me.

And you were never alone.