I still remember the last day I saw you
Laying in the hospital bed, close to the end
My dad grabs your hand and slowly says
“I remember the day you came into this world
Now I’ll always remember the day you left”
I tried to understand,
Wrap my young mind around the scene
My aunt told me to hold his hand,
His soul was now clean
I still don’t understand why God wanted you to leave
After the doctors cut off your life support that was helping you to breath
God had stolen your life away from us
Taken you to the highest points in the sky
So far up high,
I could reach but wouldn’t even try
The Sunday before my mom told me to fast
But I ignored the request
I figured it would pass
And it’s not that I didn’t want to,
It’s just I couldn’t deal with the thought of you dying
I guess that’s why at the service I couldn’t stop crying
But now, 5 years later, all I can do is write
This poem is my way to say to you,
I’m sorry I didn’t want to visit you.
I know I was young then but
For years that was no excuse
I hope you forgive me
Let me tighten up the screws
Of my board that was waving in the storm of your memory
You couldn’t hide your pain behind your smile
And I guess your laughter wasn’t the best kind of medicine after all
Michael Kenneth Zoellner passed away
October 11th, 2006
And since then I’ve felt nothing but bricks
If my words could bring you back I’d never stop writing
And if you were in the audience I’d never stop reciting
Until the room was left empty and my tears would start drying
And it was just you and me.
You lived your life off wild and recklessly
But always smiling
Though you left a thousand lives untouched
Your presence will always live on
Through us.

The silence mocks me
deafeningly clique;
writing the thoughts--
for whose ears?
mixed emotions
a face
a smile
lines that crinkle
around your eyes
what to say--
the words
mock me
like this quiet.
quiet room.
of---------

if all I was supposed to be
in your life
was an extra
I would happily pass you
on a street corner
if that meant I was somehow a part of your life
but I am more than that
to you
and you are more than that
to me

we are both heroes
of different epics
striving toward different goals
who have lifted each other up
rather than simply passing each other
on street corners
you didn't just serve me coffee
I didn't just catch your eye
we are more than that
whatever that means

and I love you
it is strange I should say so often
'I love you'
but it is my
constant reminder of
intelligence
superlative ability
and camaraderie
we are neither military men nor animals
we are the rewards of our labor
you of mine
and I of yours

The sun will not remember you,
After all the days it has warmed your back.
The stars will not remember me,
Though their light doth pierce the night, and guide me through the black.

The fields will not remember the brothers,
Lost in each other’s war.
The soldier’s cry will echo and die,
Wondering what it was for.

But we will soon forget it too,
All the suffering we did create.
The oblivious world will carry on,
And ease us of our hate.

The birds will continue to sing,
After Silence has stolen your song.
The road knows no end,
So I’ll keep traveling on.