"Give us a story; you knew him well."
Alas. Memory has failed me,
I have no stories to tell.
My memory has failed me.
I see only his face,-
Smiling, winking, nodding
or speaking. A disgrace
is my memory. Prodding
at old thoughts like candy
in a too-tough piñata.
Weak child, swing the bat bandy!
Blast this stuffed stigmata.
Time is short, recall, recall,
Time shows no quarter.
The music's ending in a fall,
Oh child, sit fast as you can.
Another boy is out this round;
A rainbow ends its lifespan,
and old feelings fall to the ground,
Wordless falls our friendship,
Feathering the floor with molted tears.
An eternity takes our kinship
Translating its hopes and fears
Into a language which will last
Into the future out of our past.