To Love Him Well

Aidan with his beloved manatee, Manny, and his DS of course. 

To love him well in death

He lays blooms

Across carved stone

And kneels, weeping,

Beating the silent ground.

To love him well in death

I light th’eternal flame

And pray God his soul to take

And kneel, weeping,

Forehead pressed to unforgiving rail.

To love him well in death

We preserve a cluttered shrine

Of figures and plastic parts 

And kneel, weeping,

Clutching what is no longer there.

To love him well in death

We decipher a fantasy 

scratched on smudgy page

And kneel, weeping,

Mourning an ending unwritten.

To love him well in death

We breathe, we walk, we love.

We hope but often falter;

And kneel, weeping,

And waiting for that day.