Your birth and death dates are forever intertwined.
The celebration of your birth
forever shadowed by the devastation of your death;
Your too-soon departure from our lives.
So much promise unfulfilled.
So much life you were denied;
Experiences to know and share.
We miss your ready smile,
Your carefree manner,
Your compassion,
but most of all your company.
Your absence leaves a gaping wound
that will never heal.
And we don't want that wound to heal,
don't want to lose our grip on the pain
that is so much a part of the remembering.
For if we lose that pain
Then we have lost you utterly, completely.