we only meet at farewells and funerals.

and we joke and laugh. and we cry and mourn. we look at the one we have to bid farewell to - in the coffin, at the gate, all the same - and wave our hands. we talk to them trying to persuade them to stay on - at least a little bit longer. we ask them to take care when we realize that's not going to happen. we'd repeat the same questions and hope for an answer we would want to hear. we walk closer when they say its time to leave. we hug the alive and embrace the dead in our hearts. we stare at them when they leave as if they'd come back if we stared harder. we pound on the window panes and the wooden box when they leave and hope they'd look back one more time. we cry again and we mourn again. and the moment before they disappear from sight, we hold our breaths, grasping any tiny chance of hope around and in the end disappoint ourselves again. they leave, never looking back.

we say 'keep in touch.'-despite the fact that we always never do- , wave, and leave for our respective homes.

then we say hi again when someone has to leave us. all the same again.