After he died, he was asked if he had any messages he wanted to share.
“I would say ‘I love you’ more often.”
but you said it a lot,
and – you were heard.
“but I didn’t say it in every breath,
instead I said it only when it came to mind.”
but you said it often, doesn’t that count?
“it’s not a question of counting,” he said
“it’s a question of whether or not anything
else which my breath pushed between my lips
meant anything as much as “I love you.”
but you saved the world.
“but I could have said ‘I love you’ even then.”
I took the message to heart, and now
my son hears “I love you” in every breath.
but I know my message from the other side
will still be,
that it wasn’t enough.