Ten years

I’m starting to forget how you smelled...

Pine,

Engine oil,

Dry flannel.

The faint sweetness of licorice.

All entwined like braids of essence,

The combination fading from my mind.

I can still hear those machines,

The sci-fi devices pumping your heart,

Forcing air into your lungs:

SHUK-SHULP.

SHUK-SHULP.

Letting us have one more minute.

Agony, watching you leave us forever.

Regret resonates in my head, echoing.

Regret not taking your call,

For not saying I love you, I miss you.

Regret for thinking you were invincible.

Yet I stayed by your side, biting back tears

As the machines were slowly killed of power...

... ...

Please, don't leave my mind.

I don't want to forget your voice,

Your loud laughter,

Your cantankerous humor

Your illustrated temper.

It has been ten years,

One whole decade since you left us behind.

One day I will see you again.

In a dream, in a photograph,

In spirit.