In Lieu of Flowers

to make me remember why i write in the first place

 

How can I summarize two years

Of laughs, tears and love?

I have no idea,

But luckily you were there for the ride.

The long duty nights

Made a bit shorter

By a drunk man in a cowboy hat

Showing up at your doorstep

To watch old cartoons

On a broken down futon

While co-workers watched

And flashed their green eyes.

It’s the little stories,

Meaningless to others,

But are our cornerstones.

The standing outside Food Lion

In breezy January weather

Waiting for a bald man and his dog

To deliver a key that isn’t there.

It’s the pain I feel in my stomach

When I know I overreacted

And when I turn around

Your arms are already open.

How a phrase like,

“Oh, my Jesus!”

Can send us both

Into a hysterical fit,

Or how a pancake breakfast

In Williamsburg

Brought us face to face with an angel

In the form of an elderly man

Who’d lost his way.  

How when I see a can of soup

In my cupboard

I know there’s still someone out there

Who’s every breath

Is hinging on my heartbeat.