Distant Friend Poem by Ben Lozier

He sits and breathes rasping breath
wonders about the time that's left.
No answers for impending death.
Dry-boned hand lowers heft.
Presses out lies loved best.
Dear to self. Despised by rest.

Time jogs on. Still he's here.
He dreams so far but looks so near.
His tumble down each broken pier
ends the same from year to year.
Past the end remains unclear
where ebb and flow fails as mirror.

As horizons go, it's all the same.
Pier follows pier. Pain begets pain.
He trundles on driven by shame
until he realizes the only thing.
No matter how waves crash, break and spray.
The piers all end the same way.

Puts his hand on Death's and grins.
It's not where he goes, to whom or when.
Not about how fast or perfect ten.
It's where he is not where he has been.
His path begins to warp and bend
Death becomes a distant friend.