Fall Back

When the winter breaks the bleakest
And the petals fled long lost
When the waves cut crisp with ice
And the froth is gone to frost
I cross the old, familiar bridge
From whence my friend was tossed.

How cheerfully he smiles at me
Some hidden mischief in his grin
As within my memories
We laugh at local whims
But the picture freezes as the tide
When I remember once again

It really wasn’t long since past
We breathed the outdoor air
All our roads stetched ahead;
He was here, and I was there
To witness the shiny moments
Belaboring the beware.

But how the autumn weather warmed
The community gossiped idly
Politics and society,
And things we widely
Found amusing and a little useless
Evidenced in our wit, albeit ever snidely.

I find myself these days
Thinking about his fall
Did the air shock his lungs?
Did he take a breath at all
Before breathing his last
Did the idea lose its thrall?

So many goodbyes I have known,
And so many more to know.
We thought the world would be so kind
Those many years ago,
It quiets me, confounded time,
To realize he was first to go,

By his own hand.
What else has mother fate planned?