On the death of a friend

Sitting in the sun on the back of your chair
Paws folded
               Serenely smiling
(Already the cancer ate you from within
(I did not know
               You did not know
               )
Life outstretched in the bright of the day
               (Death hidden
                              under the skin)
               ).

Where have you gone
                                             my little friend?
(Where is your spirit
                              in the wide cool universe of stars and galaxies
               (Where the curiosity
                              the impatience
                                             of your wordless little life?
                              )
Where among my thoughts
Do you rest easily forever in a sleep
                              Or were you spread thin into nothingness
                              Or cast into the dark abyss
                              ?
(I too
               am but a shadow here
               )
I have cared for you
               and watched you
                              and been glad for your existence
               (Are you nothing now
                              Or something?

               Am I to see you again
                              Or are you atomized into the ashes
                              and the dust from whence we came
                              ?
                              )
                              )

All life loves life

In its smallest breath
               (In the beating of its most unfathomable heart
               God’s handiwork
                              is written in infinities
(
               Requiescat in pace
                                                            my little friend
                                                            )

I will remember you as long as I can
)
.