In Memoriam

In Memoriam:
Dorothea Eady, 1951-1969

You leaned over and kissed my cheek
Before closing the car door.
Thanks for being my friend, you said;
But a few months later you were dead.

You wrote me a letter to say
You prayed to God for release.
My last letter to you came back stamped
Return to Sender: Deceased.

I strained then to comprehend
The meaning of de-cease--
Just as I strain now
To remember your face.

Decaying memories and stray implications
Are all I possess at this remove.
I wonder, is there anyone else
Who mourns your loss?

I steal a plastic rose
Off someone else's grave
So I can photograph yours,
Marked only in my own heart.