an echo (for billy)

he was sweet
and gentle
and loving
but there was more to him
within
at the end
just before that deepest silence
bore him away
beyond
he roared
like the mightiest lion
a sound so fiercely terrible
and beautiful
and wild
the sound of all he was
and
as i lay beside him
my hand rested gently on his shoulder
that sound entered me
through the growing cracks
in my breaking heart
and there it remains
and shall evermore
an echo
of a wild and beautiful and loving creature
who
for so many years
walked beside me on this journey we shared
and allowed me to love him
all of him
to his very last
and i am grateful