Remember Poem by Scott Stevenson

rewind life and remember
your last bad words, your last good ones,
to him. long before the cut.
if you're not too relaxed,
picture the last conversation
and how it went. what he told you.
why you didn't listen completely.

try to push past all this recent history
to the old school grounds.
remember
tripping on a shoelace.
he helped you up, didn't he?
remember
falling off the swing.
wasn't he there to show you
how to hit the ground running?

remember how you forgot all that.
try to understand everyone's own impact.
his impact. his footprint.
if you're not too busy to mourn an early end,
stop. remember how he touched.
no matter how or when or why.
just for the record,
you're never going to see him again.