I am surprised

by messages about friends

birthdays

now long gone

requiems pronounced

forgotten

almost

perhaps futuristic immortality

or a lingering thread of torment

a speck of glass

in my eye

a twisted wrist from pushing upwards

and today of all days

just the date

flays raw what

would have been a

a milestone

anniversary

a lingering thought

of what

might have been

and was

again

and was