When I first heard your name, all that time ago

I heard it from a friend, whose name I now shall never know.

He looked at me with widened eyes,
Eyes that were angry, despite their surprise.
He turned on meand then came the words,
December, December.
Remember, remember.
But I doubted I would remember,so I begged him to remind me,
Begged everyone who I met to remind me
So that when you came,
I still remembered your name.
Remembered the way Id heard your name
December, December.
Remember, remember.
When I saw you, when you told me
Grasped my hand to tell me
That I had to come with you,
I wasnt brave enoughbrave enough to argue.
So I let you lead me away,
And had to listen to you say
There would come a time not to depend on others to remind meyour name
December, December.
Remember, remember.
Was it your first name? Was it your last name?
You never saidwould never say,
Just smiled and took my hand again.
And really, I didnt need you to explain,
Only needed you to be thereto be there and to say
December, December.
Remember, remember.
You took me deep into the unknowninto the unknowable,
Into what I had thought was the untouchable.
We traveled, to see so much I never thought I would get to see
Would have to see.
And once in a while you turned to me
And whisperedsoft and quietly
Those same four words:
December, December.
Remember, remember.
You lead me through the strange and beautiful,
Lead me through the dark and terrible.
And always, I followed you.
You with your bravery and your dreams and your virtue.
And your repeating, ringing words
December, December,

Remember, remember.
We adventured together
It was like it was forever
And I followed, until one day I realized, I was no longer behind you
But standingsimply and casually standingbeside you.
And I thought to ask you, very softly
If this was what it wasin this bizarre and terrible worldto be happy.
You looked at me, smiling quietly,
Saying there would come a time not to depend on others to remind me
Remind me of what had been playing in my mind for so long
December, December.
Remember, remember.
I smiled. I noddedI looked away.
Looked around me at whatin this strange worldwe counted as days.
And for a while these days seemed, too, to last forever.
Our adventures were wild and they were together.
And ever so slowly, our days drained away,
Awful and wonderful and fading to grey.
And forever filled with your retracing words
December, December.
Remember, remember.
Then one of those days, when I looked at you
I think, somehow before you spoke, even then I knew
Because I knew that nothing whatsoever,
Managesin any wayto last forever
Somehow, I wasnt surprised,
When you turned to mewhen you said goodbye.
When you whispered to me for the very last time
December, December.
Remember, remember.
I smiled sadly, came to you,
Tried to give youeven though I had nothingtried to give you something to hold onto.
You smiled back,tried to do the same,and for a while
A while that was all of instantaneous and eternal
We were happy, purely and unabashedly so.
And in the next moment, I was alone.
And your so oft repeated words were ringing in my mind
December, December.
Remember, remember.
When I look back todayfrom a place I used to call home
Returned from a journey I had to make alone
That time and place is a world ago,
An awe-inspiring, terrifying universe ago.
And so much of it, I no longer remember.
But I will always recall this one thing: Your name was December.