I heard of your passing today and wondered how you’d been.

It’s been so long since I heard your voice, my memory is wearing thin.

You’d left here with a destination, hoping to ease the pain.

But where you went the agony followed, and it never stopped the rain.

I wished you well and bid farewell, for my hands could never hold.

The life you led was a restless one, so many avenues, twisted and untold.

I read in your obit all the war stories and heroism I’d never known.

The star, the medal, the accolades, even the rescue made my heart within me groan.

For this man, I wished I had met while living and breathing and very much alive.

Rather, it was the one who set off to sea on holidays and birthdays who never arrived.

My broken heart is now mended; the scar you can barely see.

Yet, somewhere deep beyond the tears, a hope of what could’ve been still remains to be.

6/4/25 MG