I once had a friend.

Blonde and bright and beaming his smile,

when at thirteen his heart halted.

I entered his home, lasagna in hands,

His mom with puffed eyes greeted me “hello”.

I let out a cracked “hi.” when she embraced me.

I hadn’t realized we both were silently sobbing until I saw the salty wet spots

stained on each others shoulders.

It took me two years to talk about him and not cry.

When I sit to reflect the tears still stagger down my stone face.

If I break so does the waterworks.

Why did he have to miss all this?

Why wasn’t it me, it could have been?

A birth defect isn’t something you can catch.

Its’ given like a cruel curse to make a mother watch her child die.

An for awhile I wish I could trade places.

This whole town was melancholy, stuck in mourning.

I couldn’t stand any other heart break,

I couldn’t stand seeing anyone else cry.

I couldn’t handle going back to school missing him from our class.

He had goals and talents and wanted to be a zoologist.

And now people are forgetting and he’s in a box.

Whenever I think of him this day, I think of what a great life he had.

that he lived a happy one, but he never got to be a zoologist.