I think of how cancer raged your blood
And bones against you.
How it wasn’t fair
For we were only twelve.
We had too many laughs left.
I think of your crooked smile and how you shared it all the while.
Sometimes I think of the mud puddle and your wig.
How the broken kids from the neighborhood
(just like us but not)
Took it and threw it so carelessly,
Thinking they were funny.
Just a good old game of keep away they said.
We tried to catch it but they were bigger and faster.
Then we gave up and they got bored.
You didn’t cry but I did.
Anger and sadness.
They laughed the whole while yelling obscenities as they walked away.
I picked it up,
That
Soggy, muddy brown wig.
I saw your shoulders drop. My heart screaming for there was no reasoning.
You smiled. No words to be said. Just a knowing between us at that moment.
You so brave. So big in my eyes.
You were so tired and thin. It’s the last time I walked you home.
I love you forever and always.
We were only twelve.