There's always been a certain quality of otherworldliness about you
a certain something intangible and indescribable
in fact, no words remind me more of you than "celestial" and "serene",
though I didn't say that when I tried to explain yourself to you,
an attempt you greeted with a laugh and
probably a combination of confusion and uncertainty.

But there's something about you,
unwittingly touching the lives of those around you with your presence,
changing their lives with a brush from your elegant fingers…
your aura extends for miles around you,
enveloping all and tuning them to your mood.

It's why this sudden sadness touched me so poignantly,
struck a resounding chord somewhere within,
why I unconsciously felt a need to do something to help you,
though I knew I couldn't bridge your Styx if I had all of Pluto's sway.

I'd say I understand but I know I don't.
I'd say I'm sorry but I'm not sure what I did that I'm apologizing for.
I'd say I know how you feel,
but I know there is no way to know how you feel,
engulfed in aural tides or no,
and to imply that I do would be an affront to your deepest soul.

I wanted to do something meaningful,
something that could express and possibly pay back
an infitismally minute portion of the debt I owe to you,
tabbed simply from being in your presence.

And I flatter myself by having the audacity to claim
any influence in what I say,
but I've never been one to listen to the seemingly safe
sense that my inner voice spouts from the dry and
unkempt corner of my mind.
The inner voice was sufficiently told to sit down and shut up
by the necessity to somehow reach out to all you know,
perhaps brushing fingertips in an exchange
without words or true thoughts involved,
beyond their control,
as the guardian sphinx radiate all the questions of the world
and the only one that can stand the gaze is
another sphinx…

Our own souls searched each other out,
sensing reverberation of an echo that resonated with something deep inside,
a nonconscious alliance of spirit,
a kindred enigma that could withstand the
unseeing watch of interrogation for the reasons
of how and why, and especially why..
Why now,
why this,
why me,
why God,
why me? –
the keenings of fractured spirits
that will heal in time, in great time,
but now it seems rather relevant
and particularly frustrating that
these questions will remain unanswered,
your eyes mirroring doubt,
and asking my own questions of me that I am powerless to answer.