I thought of you today,

and I smiled
at your ghost

as the comfort
of your memory
lingered in the air

like ashes
to the wind.

My best friend

who once caught me
as I fell through the wall
at a Bamboo House party

clutching
an open bottle of Everclear
tightly
to my chest.

You lived your life
like a feather
surrendered peacefully
to the warring winds
of the universe,

too present
to ever worry
if the path you walked
was the right one.

I have always
admired
your freedom.

And in all the moments
I’ve felt lost or unsure

I clutch the fearlessness
of your smile
tightly
to my chest

like an unbreakable shield
of your light.

My Father

and all the times
we’d watch planes
dance a dance
known only before by birds.

How many times
did man fail
before his legs
forgot the earth?..

In your memory

I will dream
to defeat impossible odds

and fly
with these poetry pages
like ashes to the wind.

My grandfather

whose love
for French onion soup
still makes people smile
through my own.

You always told
the smallest versions
of me

that I would be
someday great,

all while living
yourself
a titan.

You were exactly
the type of man
I hope to someday be.

A storyteller
A leader
and a man
of family and friends.

My mother

who would love
this spaghetti-faced kid
in a big bird bib
from across the world
by only a photograph.

I’ve never believed
in love at first sight

but there is no other way
to describe the way
you’ve always
looked at me.

The way
that in the darkest
of worlds

I have never known
a life
without love.

Even on the days
you believed
only darkness
remained within you,

you always found the light
for me.

And though I sit alone
amongst ghosts
who only smile back,

I live…
A collection
of your greatest light.

You have all
always been here
for me.

And though I have
spread your ashes
to the wind,

I have always held on
to the parts of you
that could never be burned
by fire.

The parts of you
that live in the kindness
of my best smile.

The parts of you
that love
the strangers
in the streets.

The parts of you
that held me together
in all the moments
I couldn’t find love
for myself.

And
damn

I miss you…

but blessed am I
to meet you every day
in my love
and greatest courage.

I have never been alone;

And though I too
will someday join
as ashes
to the wind.

In all my light
that still remains,

so too
will forever shine
the light
of your love.

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Music Credit: Sentient – Gavin Luke Link
Poem Art Image: Alex Azabache (Via Pexels.com) Pexels Link

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