A stomach growl, felt the stab

of indiscriminate pain

that has wandered my body

all of my life, and it froze

causing me terror at

one thirty A.M. no addiction.

Turning on the radio to wipe

away the sweet sweat, I hear that you had died

and grief, just as painful

washed over me,

I was blessed to have existed

when you had lived,

I wouldn’t change that for the world.

Ian D. Hall 2017