Friend, you are gone
Weekly we’d meet
For most of five years
Once, even twice, or trice
And yet I don’t have a memory of us
Etched in print
Captured as just the two of us
For we were varied
Both unique beautiful flowers
Among a diverse bouquet
We often were on other ends of a spectrum
Yet united by our shared love and passion
Together we’d pray
Together we’d seek
Together we’d fight
For what was good and right
Two extroverts on opposite sides
Of the same community
I took you for granted
Until for a time I watched you
Noticing you were a teacher
I began to consider how to release you
But even when that season paused
When we found ourselves contradicting
I knew you loved me
Because you called me out
You made things real
Which was refreshingly fresh
Even when we’d walk away
Believing in different ways
We’d share our joy in pastries
You’d bring me raspberry shortbread hearts
And I’d bring you the seasonal Kringle
You pushed my buttons
Unintentionally triggering me
Which pushed me to grow
Iron scrubbing off my rust
Respect was always fastened between us
How could it not be?
I valued you!
It wasn’t even until recently
We pushed past our awkward talks
And connected–of all things–as writers!
Then there was the goodness that you brought
That I want to honor most of all
More than once
I found you wearing Black
I thought backing me up
But it was really the freedom cause
For you knew how to love people genuinely
You’d give them hope
As they sat in the backseat of your car
You didn’t back down
From opening your home
You had a gift!
You’d guide girls into womenhood
You served those in recovery
The sick you spent years with,
Nursing back to health
You’d lead those formerly unwanted,
Rejected for extreme disabilities
To find joy in exploration
You dedicated hours everyday
To help ordinary people believe
How deeply they are loved.
I had nothing to do with it,
With who you are or what you did
And yet I feel proud to call you friend
Your shortened life
Was more lived more fully
Than most who lived twice your years
You modeled the “story life”
Responsible and ordinary
But world-changing
And community-shaking
Through your bold and brave!
We might have clashed somedays
Often walking in each others periphery
And yet we spent so much time together
Consistently pursuing what mattered
I keep expecting you’ll walk in And when you don’t
Our collective chest squeezes
Numb, angry and breaking–it goes all ways
It feels too close recall the shared ICU bed
But I wonder if the songs
Brought you comfort in the end
As you faded away
When I lived
It’s a lack of rhyme
For frustrated reasons
And yet we grieve your loss
For while you find rest
You’ve left a void
No one but you can fill
Leah, we miss you
And look forward to Resurrection
(In honor and grief for Leah Flores )
