There has been a terrible mistake / You were not supposed to leave this week / We had you slated in / for some time next year / We had not finished processing the paperwork / to release you / We did not have our minds / in order / Not yet / But you were always ahead on your project plans / You never missed a deadline / and you always had your layouts / arranged just so and the cutlines perfect / You loved a good story/ and delighted in a scoop / Oh, silly you / You were always disrupting expectations but this / is unacceptable / Really, I mean it / and your mid-year performance review / will certainly reflect my distress / with your unexpected departure / You could have given more notice / How could you leave us so soon? / We were not ready / We had not hired anyone new / We had no job description prepared / We had not cleaned out your desk / or moved the succulents you carefully watered / Let’s face it you only watered them / sometimes / but it didn’t matter / because they didn’t really need much care / You needed more care / than we knew / We chose to believe that your bright coloring / at the Happy Hour last week / meant you were bouncing back / but it was makeup / We thought your hair was growing in / but it was just fluffed up with your jaunty pink headband / Maybe we knew but / we didn’t understand / We didn’t approve this in the system / There has been a terrible mistake / You were not supposed to die this week /
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I've been tending my garden the past couple hours and feeling so close to Mother Nature. Mother Earth. Mother Watson Riche. Needed to check a task on computer and saw the email saying you had written a new poem. Of course, I opened it before any other emails, as I always do. And you've done it again. Packed a wallop that gobsmacked my heart. Again. Arms about you and know I'm grieving with you too.
What a thoughtful and profound tribute to honor your friend's memory.