There was a time I might have seen your face
but on that day you were not feeling well,
so left still hoping for some meeting place
but soon unmet life’s final curtain fell.

I have the messages that we exchanged
too few but strands as strong as tempered steel
that undergird the stories now arranged
in memories perhaps more faux than real.

What nature lovers see beneath the sun
is recreated from what seen that morn
in drawings, photographs, and paintings done
by talented within your lineage born.

Time passing lessens opportunity,
what almost was becomes what cannot be.