Today

I read today
I thought today
I thought of you
and what today means to you.

I saw the sun come up this morning
Saw the old girl.
That's what you called her.
One of many mornings.

You
told me so many things
a lifetime of things.

I told you things too
No one else could ever know.
But you knew
Because you were you.

I once watched
an interview with Elizabeth Taylor
they asked her about Richard Burton
She said, my memories of Richard are mine
And they're private.
And then she levelled the interviewer with her eyes.

My eyes used to level you.
Your eyes could have levelled me
But your eyes didn't.
You knew
Long before I did
The power in your eyes
In your voice
Always, one note away from a laugh.
I will hear your voice
Your voice threaded with laughter
The rest of my life.

When I write about you now
I change the present tense to the past
I have to check that I do this
Because somewhere
Somehow
I think you are reading this and
you might be offended
That I refer to you as past tense
But then
You didn't offend easily.

Once, you told me I never had to apologize
to you
No one, ever, had said that to me before.
I didn't know how to react
So I looked away from you
I looked at the floor.
When I looked, back up again
You were still looking at me with your kind eyes.
You would never level me
Not on purpose, anyway.

I didn't need to tell you
How to understand me.
You just knew.

You said to me,
You have more insight now.

I have it, because of you
Because you lived and were part of my life
and now you are gone
But I won't forget

Happy Birthday my friend
I won't do that again.