The Farewell Party

The image recalled
as clear as day.
The three of us together,
our one last chance.

Joey sits there,
his face a bit burnt,
in a black t-shirt,
a goofy smile,
wide eyes.

Sammy is there,
a smile on her face.
She’s there for me,
this isn’t her place.

Then there’s me
laughing and smiling.
My cheeks rosy,
hair tied back,
a boot on my leg,
but you can’t see that.

(Sarah’s there too,
trying to move.)

That moment we’re happy
tears haven’t been shed.
It’s Joey’s farewell party,
a surprise for him.

In the background you see
part of his wall,
made of memories of him.

“Shut up jerk face”
is one of the sayings,
put on the wall
of memories with him.

Pictures are scattered
among the sayings.
A final message added in,
“We all love you.”


That day brought tears
and tears on end
as we reminisced
with Joey, our friend.

We concentrated
on that moment.
Tried to maintain
the smiling faces
in the photograph.
Tried to shut out
the inevitable
farewell.

We walked a lot,
a powder sugar war,
a game of volleyball
late at night.

You can’t tell
from the photograph
the extent that I struggled.

As darkness fell upon us
the mood turned somber.
It was finally sinking in,
Monday he’d be gone.

We tried to keep it light,
still laughing,
still smiling.
Neither were forced,
just sometimes hard.

Little pow-wows
with the girls.
Tears shed
away from him.

The volume turned down,
we talked less.
Each of us wrote him
one final wish.

We each took a moment
to bid him farewell,
Sitting with him,
and no one else.

Joey drove me home that night,
said good-bye and promised
I’d see him once more.
I gave him a hug,
Feeling it’d be
my one last chance
that Friday night.

I cried that night,
two hours on the phone.
I was losing my brother,
to Marine boot camp.

Three months
he’d be gone,
this brother to me.

You can’t see it in the picture,
all the tears that would be cried,
by those who were closest.

That photograph,
a memory,
of a day spent together.

That moment
Captured on film.
A moment to
Get us through.

(Get us through
‘til we meet again.)