Francis Bernard Beaubien

You
always
seem closest
on this day.
Perhaps
that
is
why
I've
been
laughing
so
hard.
You,
lying
under
opressively
white
sheets,
the
aqua-
marine,
neon
lit,
tiled
floor
carrying
sound.
In
your
passing
you
said
you
thought
you
heard
me
laughing
in
the
hallway.
And
I
catch
people
saying,
"Oh,
I
love
to
hear
him
laugh."
I
never
tire
of
hearing
it.
Because,
in
the
seventeen-
plus
years
of
your
departure;
I
still
want
you
to
hear
me.