Pictures and Paper

It could happen at any moment
Time is replaced with non-existance
Your heartbeat turned to a silent shudder
Flowing blood slows and pools
Synapses fire one last time
Your eyes roll back
Their eyes fill with tears (or so we'd like to think)
Dreams become unfinished novels (would they have ever been written?)
Your home is now silk and cedar.
Oxygen turns to carbon dioxide.
Slowly lowered into this perfect rectangle of earth.
Slowly lowered into the backs of minds.
Flesh becomes part of the food chain.
And the rock above is nothing but a weaping stone.
You become the synapses in someone's memory that will one day meet the same fate.
Until one day, only pictures and paper may remain.

"As your memory hangs on a hook in the closet, I wonder what I've become. You were such an inspiration, and I never let myself be inspired. If only I were half as strong as you were. Half as proud. Half as intelligent. You knew what you wanted and you went to get it. You could spin everything in a positive light. Eyes with the power to melt anyone they saw. Just one photograph, but far more moments to remember. You had high hopes but you would have achieved every dream you had. There is no doubt in my mind you'd be more successful than any of us already. We both knew there's no master plan. If there was I'd be in your place and you'd be here making everyone's lives better instead of me here doing the opposite. You loved more and were more loved than I knew anyone could be. Now that your memory hangs on this hook, limp without your shoulders to hold it up, know you're a permanant fixture in my heart."