Gilgamesh to Enkidu
I watch from a distance, forlorn
as my heart breaks and
my soul shatters
leaving me with jagged edges
where life used to live.
Why do you leave?
You greet death so bravely
with a firm handshake
and a smile
though I know inside
you are shaking.
Why must you go
and leave me to weather
this harsh life alone?
We are one, two halves
of a whole.
As you leave and cross over
into the Land of the Dead,
I feel broken and damaged,
never to feel complete again.
My brother. my friend,
Why do you abandon me?
You're at the threshold
of life and death
and I see the balance
hang over your head.
Your time is almost up
and the tears begin to
slip from my eyes
as I watch death escort
you to the other side.
Not once, nor twice
do you look back, Enkidu,
to see the shell
of a human you are
leaving behind.