I hadn’t seen you in a long time.

  Not since my mind broke

  and I checked out of this world.

  I was caught up in my own mind,

  I wanted to get back home and hide

  and I didn’t notice how severely bad

  things had gotten for you.

  Neither of us looked the same.

  You lost weight and I surely gained.

  Some of the last words

  I said to you were thank you.

  Stolen story; please report.

  I wish I was visiting

  under different circumstances

  and that I didn’t have to ask that question.

  I know you didn’t mind

  and you were there

  for my mom all the time,

  but thank you.

  Not only for that moment,

  not only for that one favor.

  Thank you for being my mother’s friend,

  thank you for being there for her

  and thank you for being someone who could understand.

  Thank you for giving her a shoulder

  that I know she could lay her head on.

  My mother is tough,

  but I know sometimes carrying

  that burden can get very rough.

  Thank you for making my mom smile,

  she has had a rough life.

  Hell, sometimes it’s me

  who gives her a lot of strife.

  You have left an image in my mind,

  of a person strong and kind,

  who shared so much love

  and who gave what she could

  to a woman who I love.

  Ms. Gaynell, you are truly

  someone to look up to.

  I only hope that one day

  I’ll have as big of a heart as you do.

  That one day, this chiseled

  rock of a heart that’s heavy in my chest

  will thaw out and grow warm.

  I thank you, Ms. Gaynell,

  and I hope the road you now travel

  will treat you well.

  You have parted this world,

  but I’ll never forget

  you were like a burning light

  in my mother’s time of night.

  So, thank you, Ms. Gaynell.

  - dedicated to Gaynell Jackson