What would I say if you stood before me,
Burdened by your loss?
Could I have saved your needless
Death from marring my future?

Did you fall willingly
Or in the grip
Of some dark demon
Possessing
Grasping
Needing?

Had I stepped between you and the veil would
It have mattered
At all?
Would you have pushed me from your destiny
And continued regardless
Into that dead place, unheeding my cries?

My heart weeps inwardly and my flesh is gripped by the need,
The ever present need,
To have you with me, by my side.
My soul is ripped internally by your loss
Unrepairable in this world or beyond
By nothing less than you.

And yet you fell, are falling,
Continuing on your journey alone.
My world clouds and darkens
About me, and leaves me a pauper.
For without the Dog Star all is dim
And forever Winter.

And the snow melts on my eyelids.

(For R, on his baptism)