For Valentin Ramiez, 2009-2022, Killed by a Car

A greater wind than is known

has swept you away,

sunflower gold

now pulverized, its spirit-bud beheaded

blindly by a Universe brutal.

“Come back!” we cry,

but the way back is beyond and verboten.

“Why?” we implore,

seeking the healing mercy of reason,

to be mocked by silence like ungracious granite,

held aloft by the roaring rush

of a greater wind than is known,

a wind unyielding of its secrets

to the mere mortal mind,

a greater wind.