I sit bedside
and listen to the stirrings of his mind
snake their way through reason and folly
see the flashes of the rational come and go
watch the man I had come to call brother and friend
as he wanders the borderlands
between the light of awareness
and the dark of the illness that laid him low

He has not died
but lingers in half-life
like a man tied to a heavy stone
trying to drag it back to the light
while darkness creeps behind robbing him of the notion
he is a Sisyphus of the modern-day
treading the same steps over and over
while I sit in vigil bedside
hoping to catch him aware and awake
a chance to fare thee well
rest now brother
brave brave brother

I stand here by your side in dark or light
vigil for the man who is not gone
who wrestles with the darkness
in favor of light