Mortality Revisited

I stood over your grave today
never thought I'd be in this area again
I hadn't seen you in twenty years
I whispered, “I love you, I'm so sorry
for the way you must have suffered”

old memories flooded my mind
your lively, pale eyes as a little girl
the way we learned how to paint nails
and put on pink lipstick together
summers at your house in the city

you had other children to enjoy
your brothers and sisters, my cousins
I loved each one of you, like siblings
and missed you over the lost years
of unwanted separation from my family

there were pink flowers on your grave
I imagine your sister placed them there
you were loved, you were valued by many
the short span birth-death silently spoke
to me of the value and brevity of time

and reminded me of my own mortality