One Fine Day (Grief Subverted)

In g-mail chat, he asks
"How are you my friend?"
Shall I tell him like it is?

That I woke up late
To alien lethargy
Limped to the kitchen
And found we ran out of coffee?
That I called out to trusty Ate Owet
Scrambling for my purse
Until silence reminded me she climbed
Bus and ferry
To splurge a year's wages
On a fiesta by the sea?

That before I finished the cup
That passed for cafe latte
The phone rang and a message said
An old friend
Single, childless, frail, and lonely
Passed away last night
From a heart attack, the doctors say
(But virtually from a broken heart)?

That after checking text after text
The news was neither joke nor hoax
I took the guilt road welltravelled
Counting the times I didn't have time
To hug-talk the precious hapless
Who looked for love
In all the wrong places?

That I rode cold car on way to chilly office
Past the raving village idiot
Shaking his fist at imaginary foes.
Past a committee of beggars
Jostling like the children they are.
Past a megaphone blaring
Thanks to all for trust and votes
As inside a lump grows
Where my sorrow resides?

In g-mail chat at the office
He repeats: "How are you my friend?"
I smile and say I'm fine.