DEATH Poem: Like Smoke, by Michael Walley

We all live with pieces of drama
with thorns that rubs us raw
Your memory leaves me in tatters

Happiness, like smoke, thins
and drifts until it no longer exists
Leaving me wondering how I could
have been so careless

I never knew today’s sadness could
be caused by yesterday’s shadows
But young men too easily dismiss the weight
of the bags they carry

I allowed loneliness to follow me
until I gave up and let it slip
into the dust of time

Memories will fade like night at the
approach of dawn if you
can forgive yourself
Now you sit quietly in my thoughts
and I can smile at your memory
But sometimes death comes before peace