I had a cousin who disappeared when I was quite young.
It's titled "In Memoriam."
"He stood with two wheeler between us,
cuffs, pin, bike clips to keep from tearing on the pedal.
I looked away in the house we had
sat seeking each other with feeble light, words
about the weather.
We lit up ourselves fixed in perpetuity.
He rounded, easy to start, hard to stop.
I rough all over bogged down in my rudeness.
He talked as if it were a plan to paradise.
I sat stolidly like an egg flattened on its bottom.
He arose sensing the loneliness made with one's private eyes.
And I, conceding that, stood up to say goodbye.
With two wheeler between us, he let
me feel where I had failed him, his brown eyes vacant.
Death has given him what he had sought,
a perfect amiability with life, all other friendships failing."