Today, I walk for _______.

His detonation

              was inevitable.

The pin removed from the day he was born.

Fifteen years old,

               a young life cut short.

“Don’t worry, I am never gone…”

Here and there,

a blue shirt,

       a memory,

       an advocate.

Lanyards with a photo of a boy so happy

it forces one to question God’s choices.

“…I am merely living in your heart for now…”

His once unbreakable frame—

a trembling tower wearing thin again.

Brittle bones barely scraping by.

What was once an impenetrable fortress

               With solid walls,

                        High above all else.

Crumbled.

Scattered childhood memories and deepest regrets lie

 amongst the rubble that was once a force

                         to be reckoned with.

“…but if you listen closely…”

he could no longer impersonate a son,

        for he was blessed and cursed

with forsaken hopes and reverie.

His collapse reverberated off the hearts of those he once held close,

and consumed all in its path.

What is left now is but a murmur,

            Heard only by those still holding on.

“…you can hear the sound of my heart beating right with yours.”