Final Returns

You were penguins
I was purple.

You were Harvard Law School graduate
(summa cum laude)
I was state university dropout

Yet you treated me with such

respect.
You trusted me with your future.

That future is now.
(Was now.)

Last week we were joking about

life

retirement

gourmet shrimp

dating again

happiness

absence of purple

dying in the saddle

dancing in Ireland for the pure joy of it

watching talent bloom in the din of distant drummers
(my kids were your kids, all)

righting all the wrongs, ending the war,
fixing poverty, Medicare, and the deficit
(in people’s hearts)

victories, over breast cancer, grief, loss, love

Being women in a world that still feels alien sometimes

Making a difference.

You weren’t supposed to die in the saddle this soon.

You were supposed to enjoy the future
I helped you make.

I haven’t made my difference yet.
(You did)

Your heart was too big to fail.  Who arrested it anyway?

It must be a mistake.
Let’s find a solution.
A resolution
(You taught me those)

The mirror shouts back at me
empty

This is the final return. 
(No amendments)

For Jeanine, my friend, mentor, teacher and client.
September 27, 1939 – February 1, 2006