Friendly

(in memoriam)

simply moving

(a poem)

you taught me it doesn't matter when
all's right here and I'm simply moving

one step and then the next
the happening has no goal or end

no shame. no foul. 
no weakness revealed or reviled.

that step was over before this one began

and the next doesn't even register.

one foot in front of the other.

see? 
it's this and then this and then this and then this. 

no thought to any 
before or after. 

it's all right here

step or still

a one and a one and a one and a one.

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written December 2025, with deepest gratitude to Friendly: you taught me how to walk when I couldn’t. and then Cardigan taught you again, when you couldn’t.

-with love always, shannon

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rest in peace, dear boy. you loved & were loved in great quantity. only 5.5 years with us, having survived with stoic resolve so much before and after. your brothers & your humans learned so much from you. we will miss you. thank you for your appearance here on this earth. now you'll be a star to guide the entire universe.

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(all words, video & images in this post by shannon)