Nick Said Hello

My mother and I say hello
sometimes in this peculiar
way that Nick used to do.
We talk that way and in
so doing we acknowledge
the passing of everyone
we've ever known who
jumped off a bridge or
out a window or put a
gun in their mouth one
lonely day around Christmas.
We don't speak of Nick,
or his mother, but we
both know what we're
really saying, "Hello,
my dear. Never forget
the people you've loved
and how difficult they each
have found it here, how
they each had their own
peculiar ways of saying
hello, of returning kindness;
they each had their own
ways of knowing the world
and understanding what
it really means to love
someone. Never forget.
How's your morning been?"

(2006)