While glaciers calved

Blowing cold winds cutting to the bone 

My friend was melting

 

While whales breached onward to warmer seas

Manifesting new life as rebirth will forever be

My friend was melting 

 

While sunsets painted their Turner-like moods

Lighting up the flight to heaven

And while the world watched our country roll a seven

My friend, with the force of David against Goliath, was melting

 

Plugged to machines that kill to save

Fighting to keep afloat the wave

I didn't want to say or see,

 

"You've got this" I cheered! With ambiguity 

She made me a sandwich so graciously 

But inside I was screaming 

Desperate to rip off my shirt freeing 

 

This broken heart seething 

At the silly words

And curse the unfair curse

I was guilty to be alive

While my friend was dying 

 

Glaciers retreating from ash and dust

A life force dwindling 

Her life form diminishing

 

I kept bringing her back

From a vault of original images 

Over and over again

 

To hold on to that promised hike

That glass of shared wine

Her lover's love stretched far beyond 

Any eye could see

 

And if it were the antidote

One drop would have been recovery

 

But in the end, unexpectedly 

Always moving forward,

She transitioned entirely