you remember him

you remember his face
flushed
with a bong hit, his eyes
rolling back
into his deep lined smile
framed in black hair.
the beauty of his youth
fading as the needle
found a friendly vein,
you remember his arm
tied and him sinking back
into music, giving in
to the sweet crushing wave
of no pain.
you remember him beyond that
though, on the playground.
on the fields of youth,
his hat and glove,
how gracefully he ran
under a struck fly ball
that seemed to never
come down. the sun on
all of us.