When it happens and it hits hard, we decide certain things, and realize there's truth in all those dark, lonely days" <br /><br />He had an instantaneous look about him,<br />a glimmer and a glint over those eyes,<br />he knew how the world worked,<br />and took pleasure in its wickedness.<br /><br />He would give a dime or two to those sitting on the street,<br />he would tell them things like:<br />"It won't get any better,"<br />and<br />"Might as well use this to buy your next fix,"<br />and finally<br />"It's better to die high than to live sober,"<br /><br />His suit was pressed nicely, with care and respect,<br />like the kind a corpse wears,<br />he'd say that was his way of honoring the dead,<br />of always being ready for the oncoming train,<br />I liked him,<br />he never wore a fake smile<br />and he was always ready to tell a story about <br />how and<br />when<br /><br />"We all wake up alone," he said once,<br />"Oftentimes even when sleeping next to someone, we wake up before them and they are still asleep and suddenly we are awake, and alone."<br />I didn't see him for a few days,<br />a few days later it felt like it'd been weeks,<br />those weeks drifted apart from one another,<br />like leaves on a pond's surface,<br />and became like months.<br /><br />And then I saw him and I asked him where he'd been,<br />he said,<br />"I woke up alone one day, just like any other, and I decided I didn't like it anymore.