On losing my friend today

And when the day ends

I let moments play out

Like fractured pieces of music

Heard from across a street

A wooden gate that can’t be opened

A dog, distressed

Leaping up,

Tongue hanging

A boy made a man

Aching with sadness

A friend

A doctor

A house

Whose gentle shade

Protects from conversation

Words jarring

A month to cross a road

A year to get home

A journey as tender as the sweet buds on the fruit tree

Who will, after time, release their fruit