Eulogy

“Eulogy”

People ask me, “Were you close?”
I have to tell them no.
It’s through no fault of yours or mine;
it just happened so.
I don’t know when your birthday falls,
I don’t know your friends,
I can’t say that you would have been
a master among men.
I know you were a son, a brother,
a cousin and a boy.
You brought so much into the world -
you brought your family joy.
I don’t know why your time has come,
why God has staked his claim,
But I know we feel the void,
our lives won’t be the same.
I didn’t know your secrets;
they’re hidden still to me.
Even so, my heart breaks, ‘cause
you’re my family.

dedicated to Andrew Hopkins, my cousin and the best friend I wish I had.
September 28, 1987-March 13, 2006