When I Heard That You Died Poem by Rachel Brewer

I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral.
I couldn’t look at your lifeless body, because it wasn’t you.
It was an empty shell, the empty shell of my best friend.
I couldn’t look at your peaceful face without crying, and I had cried enough.
I cried a lifetimes worth of tears when I heard that you died.
So, I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral.
But I did go down to the river, remember?
Where we liked to play and relax when we were younger.
I went down to the river and threw a flower in the water.
I watched it get sucked under and dragged away, and I thought of you flying up to heaven.
A brief smile crossed my face, until the tears once again began to cloud my vision.
Happy you are safe, but sad to say goodbye.
So, it turns out, even though I couldn’t bring myself to go to your funeral,
The tears will come, and will always come when I think about this day.
The day when I heard that you died.