Here always,
Or at least that’s what we made ourselves think,
So that late at night we could sleep peacefully,
Instead of counting down the hours until your hourglass emptied.

Though we knew we were fooling no one,
It didn’t stop us from pretending,
Because to us life would stop when you left,
Life would be a little less vibrant.

You always made us laugh,
And a genuine laugh that was good and clean,
Never dark or derogatory,
Never faked to humor you.

We dreaded the day,
We loathed it,
Wanting nothing more than to freeze time here,
Hugging you with words of comfort.

While some cried openly,
Others kept it inside,
Hoping that if they held back the tears,
That maybe you would stop inches from the taxi,
With that carefree smile of yours on,
And say “Gotchya.”

But of course that never happened,
The taxi came,
You packed your bag and took a seat,
Taking in your last sight of our whole world,
Because for you it was only a blip on the map.

Only one of us was there,
The others hunkered down in their own holes of disappear and pitty,
Holding their chests as if the moment they let go their heart,
Eager to follow you,
Would jump out their chest and run into the yellow car.

But now after a lifetime without you,
We still openly stop and stare at that fence,
And hold that boy close to us,
Always repeating the two words.

Never forgetting,
Always missing,
Never filling the place,
Always leaving it open in case you return.