Memorial Poetry to be read

[Die Fledermaus]

>> I remember you.

I remember when you were small and had no hair,
Lids squeezed shut like tiny curtains waiting to rise
In mere days upon the diminutive sparkling stars
That were your inquisitive eyes.

I remember how you balanced on the edge
Of your home, an adventurer, a conqueror, knowing
A tightrope of discovery, walking with eagerness
Born of your fire-bright mind aglow.

I remember how you were so afraid when
You heard your first thunder that you ran beneath
My ponytail for safety and then was so comforted
The rain stopped and we both fell asleep.

I remember you.

I remember the days we ate cookies together and
Laughing I watched you play, enjoying the time we spent
How you were so determined with every thing you did
To be full of energy, of life, in every moment.

I remember that when I cried brokenhearted
That it was your tiny, grown hands that touched
My cheeks smoothing tears away like magic
You loved me so very much.

I remember how you would lean into my arms
So warm and ever, always, my dearest friend,
I watched as you grew wider and older, grayer
And somewhat slower, and then I remember…

I knew there would be an end.

I didn’t want to remember that.

Now many years have gone by, and I have gone on,
and you have gone on before me.
There is a little empty corner in my heart that never fills.

But, even though I bear the pain of our parting,
And I cried then, and sometimes still do…
I remember you haven’t gone forever,
And that one day, I will go to be with you. <<