Lives here and gone

I have been a witness of many lives
some continue, some are gone

he and I were young children
he told stories that were not true
and I believed
about ants fighting battles
about his parents fighting ants
we were friends
after I left town
he left life

she gave birth to me
she told me so many stories
some were true, some less so
hurt my feelings, loved me too much
everything she carried she gave to me
I left town so many times
she was always there and always gone
always with her evil twin
now that she is long gone
maybe killed by her evil twin
I can cry as I could not when she went
because it was a relief
to be rid of her twin
the love was always real
I can feel it at a distance of so many years
because I learned from her
my evil twin knows how to love
how to keep bound in ties of affection
that love, that hurt, that give and take
her life is gone but not forever
her past lives on
forever

we played as young men, not so young
played and fought as boys and men
he told many stories
some were true, some were not
I did not always know which were which
he made every wrong decision he could
brilliantly saving the eyesight of strangers
he could not live with himself
misdiagnosed his most important patient
died not young not old
having fathered a daughter in his youth 
and another who is very young still
he could not stop loving life
he could not stop loving women
he could not stop loving me

he still lives
by the miracles of medicine
we no longer talk
why not, why do I run away?
why does he still love me?
in his own way

death cannot stop love
nothing can stop love
nothing can hide the love
only fear tries

love does not hide in the heart

as long as I live
as long as we live
and maybe after