I heard you had died,

the modern fail of internet, claiming lives

before their time, modern fail

of finding news before it has even happened,

to cause sensation, perhaps untold grief

in the faces and minds of those that care;

I heard you had died, taken away

from us, not knowing how to mourn

without remembering the name you gave me,

a moniker that somehow stuck,

that name of Rufus, I hoped to hear it again

now that I know it was a false report,

that you had left us today.

Ian D. Hall 2018