Me Mate

 by Brett Goshorn

It never sounded right to me

The word mate

I was used to friend, pal, or even buddy

But now it sounds natural

Now that me mate is gone

I saw his picture the other day and it startled me

There it was under a pile of my daughter’s books

The Great Big Enormous Toshi

Stephen Colbert’s I am a Pole and So Can You

How Children Live Around the World

And then his photo from the edge of the program

The celebration of his life

Tucked in nicely

I left it there

He was extraordinary, me mate

Tolerance with home-spun country sense

Rare and beautiful

Kind

Even his insults held no malice

In their sing-songy cadence

Which would crescendo

And then drop

Harmlessly

                                                                                                 Id-

                                                                       An                                iot

                                    Are

You

How we laughed.

I miss me mate