A friend lost

I have been watching an old friend,
trying to capture him as memory,
we talked of the good times,
when we were handsome and young,
the girls slowed then and smiled,
we reminisced about triumphs
scoffed at our many failures,
made promises to one another,
knowing we could never keep them,
neither of us is the same,
inside we still yearn,
desire laughter and love,
we have settle for less aches,
for him a precipice awaits,
a shadow has come to fetch him,
he has wasted away before my eyes,
pulling up the past is no help,
a magnificent man, a valued human,
now a skin bag of rattling bones,
he lifted his hand to grasp mine,
the grip still held his strength,
looking down into crystal blue eyes,
he gave a smile of mirth, mischief,
he said: “life has been good.”
I said: “yes it has for both of us.”
then he nodded and died.