Beautiful, Beautiful Ugly D

Dude made me okay with
calling my girl "Baby"
Dude was fast and hid churning, rolling waves
behind the widest smile any river ever wished for
all that turmoil
the same as our frowns and screams
and glass doors temper-tantrum'd into rainbows
on dirty cement
but with a grin
and eyes trying to fold themselves smaller
into less threatening shapes

When the smiling wasn't enough, Homey got determined
plucked and pegged and tuned strings
from one cheekbone to another
fingers to neck, softly
Kid strummed them
Kid made you smile right back
wide enough to make all the bullshit look stupid
all that turmoil
so fruitless

Friend got punched
and maced and cuffed
and talked to like his face
was a bad joke
a rude comment at a polite event
Dude didn't flinch
Dude just stretched those corners to destiny

Some of us, the lucky ones
will always carry an image
in the pockets where problems aren't allowed
a fuzzy photograph of a house He built
a house for smiles
a house where the bullshit didn't know the password

Baby was maybe too fast
and maybe shoulda slowed down
but he got to where he was going and
sometimes ahead of the rest of us.
Baby might've crept into some bedrooms
that he shoulda steered clear of
but Baby tickled the lucky ones
Absolutely Pink.

...
For Raul, 1980-2010
i love you, Baby, and i'm gonna miss you for the longest time.
-andy