Elegy

L.N.


Talk to me.
Just for a second.
You always knew how to calm me down.
You still do, I think.
Even now.
Especially now.

you didn’t stay long.
but you saw the world,
somehow,
in more color than I ever could.

You know how it works now –
how everything fits,
why it hurts the way it does.

I imagine the sky as a theater,
soft light,
slow reels rolling.
T h e y  play those films

those soft, aching ones,
the kind that make your chest fill up
and break
at the same time.

and  t h e y  bring you popcorn –
sweet and salty,
like laughter with tears on your face,
like childhood you can’t go back to.

And you're not alone there.
And you're not sad.
Please tell me you're not sad.

Because I’m still here
trying to understand
how to go on.
How to breathe without you.
How to move forward
when everything still pulls me
back to you.

You would’ve been 39 this year.
Is that old?
Is that young?

You are my always.
My before and after.
My Liam.



In loving memory of Liam Nugent (1986-2014)