Paper frogs hoping through soft memories
Of smiling and reading up every delectable word
Your tiny messenger had to say, just another way you
Saved me every day.
A paper frog perched on the top shelf
Of our locker and the little note
Brought sparks back as you approached.
Making my heart beats harder.
The swarm that caught me after my stay away.
Just response to heartache and distance
Our own way to stabilize and build resilience
Resistance against the corrosive insistences of life.
You just left it all behind, you left me.
But I still find ways and reasons through
Life’s seasons to brighten days with
The broad  head and little legs
Of the creased paper with ink stains
In the shape of a frog for smiles sake.
They have replaced invitations,
Goodbye letters, reminders notes,
A Christmas card to my cancer fighting
Grandma who smiled so hard I had to make others.
Made a couple for my brothers
And all along thoughts of you always hover
Right  there at their creases.
Perhaps it’s just the bit of you, you left in me
Showing through all my broken pieces.