The Anniversary of a Birthday

Commemorating a birthday after a friend died

July 22, For Michael

If you were still with us now,
We'd celebrate the day somehow--
A gift, a card, a time of mirth
To commemorate the day of your birth.
But you were impatient and left
Me behind to grieve your death.
Your ashes scattered, you have no tomb.
But in my heart a white gardenia blooms.
No need for stone to document,
These words of mine your monument.