<html aria-label="message body"><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;"><div dir="auto" style="overflow-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space; font-size: 22px;"><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Susan</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">She and Don would often host dozens of friends,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We’d play, dance, drum and sing </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Faces alit by the cast iron stove burning </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Wood gathered from nearby fallen oak and redwood branches.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ah, those carefree days building </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Sweat lodges, tee pees, clearing spaces for</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Ceremony, hearts blown open </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Tears shed, voices crying out across the </span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Vast chasm of souls born in this sliver of time</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Reaching out to each other for solace and comfort.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">There lies my friend, awake now</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In a bed unable even to stand on her own</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Let alone dance or sing again</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">In thanks of this we call life.</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Before my own turn comes for this</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">I visit my friends one by one</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Moving toward the last goal line,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">We are in extra innings, wearing out, slowing down</span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Astonished still by the notion that we were here,</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">That we knew each other, that we would comfort</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">one and other at journey’s end</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Perhaps looking out once more side by side</span><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;">Into the dark night of our improbable existence. </span><br><br><span style="white-space: pre-wrap;"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>- Mike Lerner</span></div></body></html>