I get mopey and sad from time to time. Plenty of perfectly happy things tend to ... just bring back the sad stuff these days. trying to get better about it.

I've got a room full of meerkat plushes, and everyone always asks why there's a random fox in the bunch.

This is for a friend who passed away, about this time four years ago.
A little piece of him is still sitting on my bedside table,
surrounded by as many friends as I can supply him with...

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Far Be It From Me

---

In the corner,
your little fox eyes are watching as
Shakily,
I pour a cup of wine
(Though having nothing to celebrate)
You remember, right? He would
have just finished Passover

Sips come between ragged breaths
as I spin in my chair,
bleary eyed, white knuckled,
putting names
to all the little
plush eyes staring back at me

A grieving mother ushers me in,
where we met for the first time
She says he'd want me to
take you home,
to remember him by

But you're the only one
I've never named
Because you already have one
And I'll never get to ask

Some graves are
too far away,
But I make do