low tide

if death isn’t just nothingness
then i feel it might be like this 


an endless wet sandy beach

and the dim rattle of far off waves


the sky blocked by clouds

that sag grey in the air 


and a wind that plugs the ears

and loudens the mind 


i stop and you walk on

barefoot and carefree


as I look for you in the distance 

i saw you as a memory i’ll have


i can see your smile from here 


you said you talked to your body

coaching it to fight the cancer


you saw the sea as limitlessness

an open expanse of opportunity


this place gave you hope

and your voice a clarity


i felt a stranger in it

in this space where our privacy wanders


through an air of stem cells

the air we breathe in dreams 


walking always at a distance

a guest still wearing his shoes


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